How to Use
the Map

Table of
Contents

Map 1: Mammoth Cave National Park and surrounding region.

Map 2: Portion of a map drawn by guide
Stephen Bishop, 1845.

Map 3: A modern map of underground trails in Mammoth Cave National Park.

Questions for Maps 1-3

1. Using Map 1, note the location of Mammoth Cave National Park within the state of Kentucky.

2. Map 2 was drawn by Stephen Bishop, a slave and famous Mammoth Cave explorer. Many similar maps have been drawn through the years as people continue to discover previously unknown passages. How would one go about exploring and mapping passageways that twist, turn back on themselves, and continually change levels? What problems do you expect Bishop encountered in drawing his map of the cave? Would you like to use this map if you were going to tour the cave? Why or why not? What is missing that would be important to know?

3. Study Map 3. What features can you find on both Maps 2 and 3? What do you think was the origin of some of the names given to areas of the cave? Why would it be important to assign names to various features and segments of the cave? Why is Map 3 easier to read than Map 2? Which map would be most useful and interesting for a tourist? a spelunker? a historian?

* The maps on this screen have a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high quality version of Map 1, Map 2, and Map 3, but be aware that the files may take as much as 30 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.