Kentucky Caverns was discovered in 1799 by Martha A. Woodson on land granted by the first Congress to Colonel Charles A. Woodson as part of the Lands South of Green River reserved for veterans of the American Revolutionary War. The caverns served as a source of water for local residents and were long used as a natural refrigeration storehouse. The surrounding land passed through the Lively and Crump families, and the cave was sporadically shown to travelers on the Stagecoach Trail and the early Pike that passed at the foot of Cave Hill. In the 1890s a commercial concern was formed to mine cave onyx, but the company's financial distress prevented wholesale destruction of the cave's decorations. In 1921 the property was purchased by Dr. H.B. Thomas of Horse Cave, Kentucky, a retired dental surgeon who undertook the first modernization of the trails and installed the first electric lighting system and a modern deep water supply. Visitors have been recorded from every country.