Tuberculosis Huts

The Tuberculosis Huts are two stone shelters built for an experimental tuberculosis hospital along Broadway, 183 feet below ground inside Mammoth Cave. They are seen only on a ticketed cave route that includes them, not from a separate entrance above ground. The huts make a memorable stop if you are interested in the cave's human history, though they are one feature in a much larger tour.

Louisville physician John Croghan bought Mammoth Cave in 1839 and opened an experimental hospital in 1842, believing the cave's steady temperature and humidity might help people with tuberculosis. He invited 16 patients to live underground. Enslaved people built two stone huts and eight wooden shelters; the wooden buildings measured about 12 by 18 feet and had canvas roofs.

With no natural light to mark the day, patients synchronized their watches with the world above. Some meals were cooked in the cave; enslaved workers prepared others outside and brought them down. The experiment was part of a working tourist attraction even then, so patients lived beneath passageways that visitors already explored.

The trial lasted no more than five months. Damp air and smoke from lanterns and fires worsened patients' symptoms, and five died in the cave. Only the two stone huts remain; the eight wooden ones are gone. One stone structure was stabilized, with some walls left incomplete, so the roofless buildings still show the rough shape of the experiment.

A wide view frames both structures against the surrounding cave rock and helps their scale make sense; the stop is marked as a photo spot. If you are not taking a route that reaches the huts, the park's Beneath Your Feet signs and ranger videos explain the passages below ground, but they do not show the huts themselves.