"Three miles
from Bowling Green on the Nashville Road we visited Cave Mill. A growth of
fine timber here skirts the road, and would prevent the casual observer
from noting a large sink of an oval form, at the bottom of which (100 ft.
below) flows a river 20 or 30 yard. wide: Descending its precipitous
sides, a scene of wild and rugged beauty presents. At one end the river
rising at once full grown, flows about 300 yards, enclosed by the steep
and rocky sides of the ravine, then enters a cavern 150 ft. wide at its
mouth, and a least 40 or 50 ft. high. A solid arch of rock about 50 ft. in
thickness forming the roof. Under this arch an enterprising Kentuckian has
located his grist mill, and the noise of the falling waters, and the
clattering of the cog wheels by giving life and animation, increases the
picturesque effects. Finding a small board, we secured upon it a Bengal
light, ignited it, and committing it to the current, it floated away,
illuminating the extensive cavern, with the intense brilliancy of its
light, until a change in the course of the cave hid it behind a projecting
rock from those at the mouth, who were anxiously watching its progress."
– description by Thomas Kite in
1847 |