Throwback Thursday: The Novelty Experience Of A Green River Ferry Ride

Southern Kentucky is home to the longest cave system in the world. Mammoth Cave
National Park’s area has been explored by generations of visitors for thousands of
years, both below and above ground. One of the unusual amenities found within the
park is the Green River Ferry. Now the only active ferry along the Green River
within the national park, there’s something nostalgic and charming about taking a
ferry ride.

The National Park Service reports the Green River Ferry was first developed in
1934. Open 364 days a year, except Christmas Day, the ferry can shuttle travelers of
all kinds—vehicles, hikers, bikers, and more, across the river.

This free ferry service has somewhat of a novelty feel and is an extra neat amenity
for national park guests. But it’s not just for tourists. The Green River Ferry also
makes a residential commute much quicker, better connecting the county so locals
don’t have to drive all across the park to get to other nearby communities.

If you haven’t taken a ferry ride, we highly recommend doing it at least once. The
Green River Ferry Road has ample space for cars waiting to be carried across the
river. You literally drive down the road to load onto the ferry, park, and stay stopped,
and then drive right off when you reach the other side.

This Green River Ferry is not to be confused with the Miss Green River riverboats
that once sailed these waters. The Miss Green River riverboat was a charming hour-
long tour along the river that pointed out national park wildlife, and history, and told
great stories. We found records of the Miss Green River and Miss Green River II in the
WKU Kentucky Library Special Collections archives. In our research, we didn’t find a
date for when those riverboat tours began, but we do believe they ended sometime
in the 1990s. An old Bowling Green Daily News article even showcased one of these
tours as a day well spent in Edmonson County.

In the meantime, you can still hitch a ride on the Green River Ferry. This nearly 90-
years-old experience reminds us of the days when time traveled a little bit slower
and more of those novelty experiences were found on our old highways around
every corner.

That’s it for this week, brought to you by Hart County Tourism and the Kentucky
Museum. In Bowling Green, because local matters, Telia Butler, WNKY News 40.