, Auditorium
Gordon L. Smith (NSS 8847 CL, F, H)
Sixty-Seven Years in the Dark – And Counting . . .
My parents took me to Smokehole Caverns in West Virginia sometime in the early 1950s. Several years later my family went to Seneca Caverns, but we couldn't afford to take the whole family in the cave. Since I had already been in a show cave, my Dad took my brother in and I had to wait in the car with my Mother.
In October of 1959, while a student at Potomac State, after accidently reading "Caverns of West Virginia", I went in my first wild cave with two geology students from Moorfield, West Virginia. The cave was the Keyser Quarry Cave. Before long, I was taking them to caves such as Kites Cave in Mineral County.
In February of 1961, in a snowstorm, in a 1929 Model A Ford, I went to Parsons in Tucker County to visit Cave Hollow Cave for the first time. How I survived that trip with five others (no hardhats, "big" flashlights, no idea what we were doing) is amazing to me. It turned out to be the first of many trips to Cave Hollow over the next ten years. It was about two-miles long when we started with two entrances and when we "finished" the survey it was five-miles long and had five entrances. When Judy and I got married, the owner of the cave sent us a wedding present.
I presented a paper on Cave Hollow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Geology meeting in Washington, DC, in 1966 and met Russ Gurnee who insisted that I join the NSS, which I did with his recommendation. I also met Denny Burns, who was the Chief Cartographer with the Cave Research Foundation. Denny invited me to come to Flint Ridge for the Spring Expedition where I met Stan and Kay Sides. We are still in the Mammoth Cave area.
In the Spring of 1973, at a Louisville Grotto Meeting, I learned that Marengo Cave, a show cave in Southern Indiana, was for sale. I visited Marengo shortly afterward and to my amazement learned that the owner was desperate to sell the cave. Buying a show cave was the farthest thing from my mind – I had just purchased my first home and didn't have a penny to my name. Somehow, I formed a group with Pat Stephens, Gary Roberson, and Terry Crayden (all cavers) and much to my surprise we were able to get a loan to buy the cave. I eventually bought out the other partners and owned the cave by myself from 2001 until 2017. I couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement of my wife Judy. While owning Marengo, I (and others) discovered a passage in the cave that turned out to be the largest passage ever discovered in Indiana.
In 2002, the State of Indiana was going to close Wyandotte Cave. I protested and the head of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said that the only way he would keep it open was if I operated the cave. I said hell no and he said to be in his office the next week in Indianapolis to discuss the details. I operated Wyandotte for seven years until white nose hit.
In 1968, at my first NSS Convention in Springfield, MO, I began my hobby (obsession) with collecting cave books, postcards, etc, etc.
On Thanksgiving Day 1968 Judy and I discovered Lee Cave on Joppa Ridge in Mammoth Cave National Park. Lee Cave would become the second longest cave in the Park at about 18 miles. Soon after, I was elected to be a Member of the Cave Research Foundation and Judy and I managed the Flint Ridge Field Station from 1967 until 1974. When the connection was made to Mammoth Cave in 1972, I was the Expedition Leader on the surface.
In 1970, I was elected a Fellow of the NSS and, in 1981, I became the President of the National Show Cave Association. In 1979, with a big push from Russ Gurnee, I was elected to be a Board Member of the National Speleological Foundation and served as Secretary and Investment Committee Chairman until I "retired" in 2021 after 42 years.
In 1999, I put together a group of cavers to purchase Diamond Caverns in Park City, Kentucky. The reason behind buying another show cave was to locate the National Cave Museum at Diamond Caverns. The groundbreaking was at a NCKMS in 2016 at Diamond Caverns.
In about 2005, Jack Herschend, a good friend, purchased Cumberland Caverns from Roy Davis. Roy strongly suggested that Jack put someone on the Board of Directors that knew the show cave business. I have been on the Board ever since.
I have traveled extensively over the past ten years visiting caves in England, France, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Bermuda, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Barbados, Curacao, Belize, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand with Judy and more recently with my partner Laura Allen.
At the 2024 NSS Convention in Monteagle, Tennessee, I was awarded Honorary Membership in the NSS, the highest honor given by the Society. My cave exploring days now behind me, I am the managing partner at Diamond Caverns and always delighted to show cavers through the National Cave Museum. However, I'm not quite ready to fold my tent. At the 2022 NSS Convention in South Dakota I initiated a cave project that has recently been amazingly successful.
Biography
Gordon L. Smith (NSS 8847 CL, F, H) was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1942 where he completed early education. He attended Potomac State College of West Virginia and graduated with an associate's degree in engineering. He went on to get his BS in Mechanical Engineering (1964) and MS in Environmental Engineering from West Virginia University (1966) and an MBA from University of Louisville in 1971. Along the way, he married Judy Edmonds (NSS2 8353FR) in 1969 and had two wonderful children. He moved to the Louisville, Kentucky, area in the fall of 1966 and has lived in the Louisville area and southern Indiana since then.
Gordon was the operator of Marengo Caverns and Wyandotte Caverns in Indiana and now is the managing partner of Diamond Caverns in Kentucky and The National Cave Museum. He serves on the board of Cumberland Caverns and has served as president of the National Show Caves Association. He was a board member of the National Speleological Foundation for 42 years. Gordon is a member of the Cave Research Foundation where he was expedition leader during the Mammoth-Flint Ridge connection. He also founded Cave Country Canoes in Milltown, Indiana, and Tourist Information Service. He is a fellow of the society and the recipient of the 2025 NSS Honorary Member award.