History is cool — about 56 to 58 degrees in Louisville’s Mega Cavern — so be sure to bring a jacket for your guided tram tour. Select portions of the 4-million-square-foot facility were opened to the public in 2009. The ride is a bit rough at times and dark. Lights are turned on along the route only as needed and to inspire awe at the vast expanses.
“This was an underground quarry from the 1930s to the early 1970s,” says our tour manager, Trey Moreau. “Miners would blast out rock to be used in road construction, and it was shipped throughout the South.”
At stops along the way, Moreau points out the limestone strata, a water wall with new mineral deposits beginning to form, and tableaus explaining the mining processes.
Chilling history from the Cold War era reveals that this securable, underground location was designed to be a bomb shelter and Civil Defense communications center.
“Only 50,000 people, mostly politicians, doctors and military from Ft. Knox knew the secret meeting place,” says Moreau.
One area of the cavern has been set up with some of the old supplies and populated with ghostly mannequins, cots, tables and dim lanterns, providing a haunting scene. Around a corner, on a portion of wall flattened and painted white, a Civil Defense film clip from the 1950s is projected — complete with dramatic music and voices.
Since September 11, 2001, the cavern has been promoted for secure storage. It now protects history such as corporate data and even films — including, it is believed, the original print of “The Wizard of Oz.”