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Hello all,
I grew up outside of Lexington near Cynthiana. Growing up we drove up and down Russel Cave Road at least 5 times a week. I remember as a kid my parents pointing out what looked like a cave entrance on the west side of the road. If you are driving north on Russel Cave road out of Lexington you go past the Jot Em Down store and then past a radio station. Next you will pass Huffman Mill road on the left. You go slightly right around a curve to the right and then go down a slight hill. There is a big huge house on top of a hill on the left and between it and the road there is a creek (which the road crosses over). On the right if you look at Google maps you will see Dixiana Domino Road. The entrance is left off the road in the trees to the left of the road around this area. During the winter time at least you can see back to where it looks like the creek flows out of the mouth of a cave. I have always been curious if this is the actual cave that the road is named after. Also has anyone on here actually been in this cave? How far back does it go and how big is it? Got any pics? Have a good one fellow city data peeps.
Yes, that's Russell's Cave. It's the largest cave in Fayette County, but most of the passageways are said to be filled with mud and/or water on their "floors". The entrance is privately owned by Mount Brilliant Farm - the famous, historic, beautiful and alas, now lost Greek Revival Mount Brilliant mansion picturesquely stood for most of 200 years on the hilltop directly above the cave. It's a shame the current owner, who is not a Kentuckian, did not understand or appreciate the house's significance and chose to destroy it a few years ago, despite overwhelming local public opposition and great efforts on the parts of others to save this extremely historic, beautiful, and important house.
At one time, the large spring flowing from the cave was used to run a turbine which produced enough electricity for the house - the powerhouse still stands just beyond the mouth of the cave, but is now used for other purposes.
Rafinesque wrote of an Indian burial mound above the cave, in the front yard of the mansion, and the same front yard was the scene of an ante bellum political rally/barbecue, during which abolitionist Cassius M. Clay (the Lion of Whitehall, not Muhammed Ali) got into a scuffle with an opponent which turned violent. It ended with Clay putting his Bowie knife to gory use, the rolling the unconscious body of his foe down the hill into the waters of Russell's Cave below.
Russell's Cave certainly has a colorful history, as does Mount Brilliant Farm. It's just a shame that the tangible relics of that history were not appreciated and preserved.
The cave over which the Beaumont subdivision was partially built is Crystal Cave, named for the beautiful white and purple fluorite crystals inside. It is the second largest cave in Fayette County and is quite close to the surface, which led to a great deal of concern about building large, heavy brick-faced houses directly above it - a similar cave passage in the Bowling Green area had collapsed not long before the Crystal Cave zoning hearings, when a highway was built over it, taking several cars down but thankfully, without loss of human life. Again, there was much opposition, as local cavers, geologists, and zoologists wanted to see access to this scientifically important cave preserved and the cave itself protected. Crystal Cave was a habitat for considerable cave fauna, as well as being more easily accessible and more "ornamented" with cave formations than is Russell's Cave.
Despite the safety concerns and creative proposals for alternative uses of this property that would have benefitted the community far more than yet more McMansions, the surface owners won, and houses were built on most of the area known to be directly above Crystal Cave, despite the opposition of the local scientific community (thankfully, the passageway known to be closest to the surface was not built-over).
The natural entrance (now closed) of Crystal Cave is within easy walking distance of Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School - what a lost opportunity to deed the cave or at least, the right to make scientific and educational use of the cave to the school, whose focus is on science and mathematics, to be used as a living laboratory. Can you imagine how exciting classes on cave formation, karst topography, cave life, etc. would have been to teenagers whose school had its very own cave for them to study? Sadly, from the zoning hearings I attended at the time, this idea was never even considered...
One can only hope that smaller openings to Crystal Cave have not also been blocked, so that bats and other cave denizens are still able to pass to and from its recesses...
Lexington/Fayette County does not have a good history of properly understanding and valuing its caves. Many rural landowners in central Kentucky do not understand how caves, sinkholes, springs, etc. work. It's not uncommon to see sinkholes filled with brush, cut trees and other debris or even, heaven help us, old cars, old farm machinery and appliances such as old refrigerators and stoves. Of course such sinkholes funnel rainfall directly to the water table below, whose waters then emerge in springs. Keeping sinkholes clean and free from unnatural debris is key to keeping our groundwater - and thus, our drinking water - clean and potable.
So keep the sinkholes clean, clean up the clogged ones, appreciate our caves, and read and learn and visit such places if you can. McConnell Springs is a good place to start to learn about how groundwater and karst topography work together, and Dr. Mary Wharton's (and Dr. Roger Barbour's) classic book, "Bluegrass Land and Life", is essential reading for anyone who cares about our beautiful Bluegrass. She was truly a prophet in her own land...
Thank you for the 411 about Russel Cave. I wonder how far back the entrance goes from what can be seen off the road. One of my parents works at Dunbar so I will have to ask them about the cave you mentioned. I also remember when we lived in Lexington my dad told me there was an entrance to a cave behind Picadome Elementary school. He said it was closed up by the public but I always thought that was interesting. I also loved going in the cave at Natural Bridge although from what I understand it to has been closed off. Have a good one.
I have read that Russell's Cave's main passage is around two miles long. No documentation for this, just memory...
Yes, there's another cave beneath Picadome School - I think it very likely connects to the big sink on the golf course behind the Campbell House Hotel, visible from Mason-Headley Road.
Rare cave insects plus the remains of prehistoric animals were found in Crystal Cave. Too bad the subdivision's developer was so antagonistic towards those who wanted to keep scientific access available at the hearings back in 2005. There was a very valid proposal to close the cave's main entrance with a locked metal gate which would still allow bats, etc. to come and go, yet protect the cave from vandals and trespassers while allowing scientific access. It's a shame this was not done, and that personal issues appear to have entered into the controversy.
Yes, that's Russell's Cave. It's the largest cave in Fayette County, but most of the passageways are said to be filled with mud and/or water on their "floors". The entrance is privately owned by Mount Brilliant Farm - the famous, historic, beautiful and alas, now lost Greek Revival Mount Brilliant mansion picturesquely stood for most of 200 years on the hilltop directly above the cave. It's a shame the current owner, who is not a Kentuckian, did not understand or appreciate the house's significance and chose to destroy it a few years ago, despite overwhelming local public opposition and great efforts on the parts of others to save this extremely historic, beautiful, and important house.
At one time, the large spring flowing from the cave was used to run a turbine which produced enough electricity for the house - the powerhouse still stands just beyond the mouth of the cave, but is now used for other purposes.
Rafinesque wrote of an Indian burial mound above the cave, in the front yard of the mansion, and the same front yard was the scene of an ante bellum political rally/barbecue, during which abolitionist Cassius M. Clay (the Lion of Whitehall, not Muhammed Ali) got into a scuffle with an opponent which turned violent. It ended with Clay putting his Bowie knife to gory use, the rolling the unconscious body of his foe down the hill into the waters of Russell's Cave below.
Russell's Cave certainly has a colorful history, as does Mount Brilliant Farm. It's just a shame that the tangible relics of that history were not appreciated and preserved.
The cave over which the Beaumont subdivision was partially built is Crystal Cave, named for the beautiful white and purple fluorite crystals inside. It is the second largest cave in Fayette County and is quite close to the surface, which led to a great deal of concern about building large, heavy brick-faced houses directly above it - a similar cave passage in the Bowling Green area had collapsed not long before the Crystal Cave zoning hearings, when a highway was built over it, taking several cars down but thankfully, without loss of human life. Again, there was much opposition, as local cavers, geologists, and zoologists wanted to see access to this scientifically important cave preserved and the cave itself protected. Crystal Cave was a habitat for considerable cave fauna, as well as being more easily accessible and more "ornamented" with cave formations than is Russell's Cave.
Despite the safety concerns and creative proposals for alternative uses of this property that would have benefitted the community far more than yet more McMansions, the surface owners won, and houses were built on most of the area known to be directly above Crystal Cave, despite the opposition of the local scientific community (thankfully, the passageway known to be closest to the surface was not built-over).
The natural entrance (now closed) of Crystal Cave is within easy walking distance of Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School - what a lost opportunity to deed the cave or at least, the right to make scientific and educational use of the cave to the school, whose focus is on science and mathematics, to be used as a living laboratory. Can you imagine how exciting classes on cave formation, karst topography, cave life, etc. would have been to teenagers whose school had its very own cave for them to study? Sadly, from the zoning hearings I attended at the time, this idea was never even considered...
One can only hope that smaller openings to Crystal Cave have not also been blocked, so that bats and other cave denizens are still able to pass to and from its recesses...
Lexington/Fayette County does not have a good history of properly understanding and valuing its caves. Many rural landowners in central Kentucky do not understand how caves, sinkholes, springs, etc. work. It's not uncommon to see sinkholes filled with brush, cut trees and other debris or even, heaven help us, old cars, old farm machinery and appliances such as old refrigerators and stoves. Of course such sinkholes funnel rainfall directly to the water table below, whose waters then emerge in springs. Keeping sinkholes clean and free from unnatural debris is key to keeping our groundwater - and thus, our drinking water - clean and potable.
So keep the sinkholes clean, clean up the clogged ones, appreciate our caves, and read and learn and visit such places if you can. McConnell Springs is a good place to start to learn about how groundwater and karst topography work together, and Dr. Mary Wharton's (and Dr. Roger Barbour's) classic book, "Bluegrass Land and Life", is essential reading for anyone who cares about our beautiful Bluegrass. She was truly a prophet in her own land...
Wow, I loved reading the bolded and particularly the underlined part. Had me feeling like The Goonies when Mikey was describing the story of One Eyed Willie. LOL I totally had visuals as I was reading what you wrote. Literally after I read it, I was sitting here, jaw dropped, saying, "Woah ... cool." LOL "Gory" "Unconscious body."
There's a colorful account of Cassius Clay's fight with his opponent in "The Lion of Whitehall". Clay's cousin Henry defended him from a charge of "mayhem" and got him off, claiming (correctly) that it was self-defense. Although Cassius Clay was known to have a fiery temper...
Thanks for the appreciative remarks. Local history contains many interesting accounts of some remarkable people who graced central Kentucky in the past.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Central Kentucky is actually a major karst area, it's just over shadowed by South Central KY which is the Saudi Arabia of caves. In the old days caves across Kentucky were prime locations for distilling whiskey and wine.
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