Office of Research and Creative Activity

WKU PBS is proud to announce that the 30-minute documentary Mammoth Cave: A Place Called Home will be nationally distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association in September.  This will allow the story of the establishment of Mammoth Cave National Park to be shared with the rest of the country as the National Park Service celebrates its centennial.

The WKU PBS documentary Mammoth Cave: A Place Called Home will be nationally distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association in September.

“WKU PBS is excited to offer this documentary to a national audience,” said David Brinkley, director of Public Broadcasting. “We believe that the unique stories of our region are important as they relate to national conversations on topics like eminent domain.  We also appreciate the partnership with our good friends at Mammoth Cave and the National Park Service and appreciate the importance of this anniversary for them.”

Mammoth Cave: A Place Called Home is the poignant story of people moved from their homes and communities to make way for the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park.  This moving tale comes to life with the cooperation of community partners, Mammoth Cave National Park and with the support of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Mammoth Cave National Park Association, the Friends of Mammoth Cave and by supporting members of WKU PBS.

“In this year of the NPS Centennial, we wanted to work with WKU PBS to tell the story of how Mammoth Cave National Park came to be,” said Sarah Craighead, the park’s superintendent.  “Mammoth Cave: A Place Called Home is the story of all public lands – they belonged to someone else before they belonged to the American people.  We need to remember that and appreciate it.  It’s is a sad story, but it has a happy ending.  National parks like Mammoth Cave are fascinating places that are preserved and protected to be discovered and rediscovered by generation after generation.”

Interviews with pre-park residents and their families along with archived interviews with former park rangers tell the tale of loss and restoration that come together in this powerful documentary.

“This documentary was a year in the making, but it was generations in the telling, and we appreciate all of the stories that we were able to share with the creation of this documentary,” said Cheryl Beckley, producer of Mammoth Cave: A Place Called Home.

WKU PBS is the public television service of WKU. Broadcasting since 1989, the station is staffed by award-winning professional broadcasters, and also provides employment and internship opportunities for WKU students, who receive real-world experience to further their careers post-graduation.

Contact: Cheryl Beckley, (270) 745-2400