Mammoth Cave National Park
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![The Bottomless Pit in Mammoth Cave, woodcut, 1887 (Nuno Carvalho de Sousa Collection, Lisbon)](/Images/godic/202501/13/Mammoth_cave_01_-_18871715.jpg")
![A ranger-guided tour of the cave](/Images/godic/202501/13/Mammoth_Cave_tour1715.jpg")
Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. national park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. The official name of the system is the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System for the ridge under which the cave has formed. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941. It became a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981, and an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990.