River Hall - Beneath Your Feet

River Hall connects the Historic Tour route to the underground rivers.

NPS Photo/ David Kem

Quick Facts

Location:

Mammoth Cave, KY 42259

Significance:

Two tributaries where water flowed into and out of the cave passageways.

Designation:

World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

River Hall lies 283 feet below your feet on the Historic tour route. Usually dry, this passage is the only passage to fill with water when the Mammoth Cave’s River Styx floods into it. Most of the cave stays dry during floods, River Hall is the only toured section in the floodplain. This room is at the junction of two tributaries of the old river system; one brought water from the River Styx area, and the other brought water from the passage leading from Great Relief Hall. The walls and ceiling of River Hall have prominent scallops formed by flowing water. 

Poet and abolitionist Lydia Maria Child wrote of River Hall when visiting Mammoth Cave:

"The River Hall descends like the slope of a mountain; the ceiling stretches away-away before you, vast and grand as the firmament at midnight." – Letters from New York, 1845.

NPS Mobile App Users: Click here to watch a video of a ranger in River Hall. 

Duration:

39.867 seconds

Join Ranger Mary as she shows you River Hall, 283 feet beneath the surface.