Touring Mammoth Cave with Ranger Jerry Bransford and Audrey Peterman
By Audrey Peterman
Today on our Black History Month tour in this 100th Anniversary Month, we’re going to visit Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is one of the longest cave systems in the world that has been explored, and the heroes of this story are “the Sable Guides of Mammoth Cave.” who began probing its depths in 1838. Indigenous people occupied and traversed the branching cave system long before.
I was privileged to tour the cave with Ranger Jerry Bransford, a descendant of the Bransford line of enslaved men who explored the caves using inferior, unprotected lighting, risking life and limb. The fact that my 13-year-old grandson Yero was with us gave the experience an eerie feeling -as if we were a bridge back to our ancestors in the present and a bridge forward to the future.
Descending into the vast, cavernous space we find it well lit, unlike how the enslaved men would have seen it. It looks like an amphitheater, and operas have been performed here, including one featuring the brother of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Lincoln.
Farther down in the cave, the ranger turns off the lights, and we gasp as the dark comes pressing in. The flickering light from the lamps the enslaved men used – three strands of wire twisted over a small wick – provides very little relief. They have no shade so a sudden rush of air can put them out.
The Sable Guides from the Bransford and Bishop families were responsible for the lives of scientists and tourists who visited the caves and who they regularly took on tour deep into the cave. The enslaved men were even expected to carry and serve elegant lunches in the caves.
But there was no question who was in charge, The visitors were warned to obey the guides instantaneously, at the cost of their lives, because one wrong move could cause them to plummet to their death.
The highly educated and wealthy tourists were captivated by “the Sable Guides” and marveled at their scientific knowledge, expertise and poise that they demonstrated. They clearly illustrated the barbarity and lie of the American system as these Black men were more knowledgeable about the composition of the rocks found in the caves than the white men above ground. The scientists never stopped marveling that these noble men were “Slaves above ground and Masters underground.”
To my delight, Ranger Bransford sent me this notes last week:
“Recently discovered documents about three of the master/slave guides: Nicholas Bransford, William Garvin and Materson Bransford, stated that Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln was escorted through the cave by these formerly enslaved guides. Mrs. Lincoln mentioned how courteous and intelligent they were.”
It is a stain on our beloved National Park Service that when the agency bought the land in the 1930s to protect as a national park, descendants of the Sable Guides were summarily dismissed. They were told that the Park Service would not employ “negroes.” The Service has since progressed to integrate this history into its story. Ranger Bransford has been closely associated with ensuring the story of his ancestors and their peers is known.
I hope this gives you more incentive to get out and visit our National Parks and take pride in the incredible roles our Black ancestors played in the exploration and development of our country.
(Audrey Peterman is an environmentalist, author, and advocate for diversifying the National Park System since 1995.)
