Booth’s Amphitheatre, named after the 19th century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth (brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth) lies 169 feet beneath your feet. Booth’s Amphitheatre is where Gothic Avenue intersects with Main cave. This is a large canyon passage, very wide with a high ceiling, there is a set of stairs that go up into Gothic Avenue, an upper oval shaped passageway; located near the stairs are also a second set of salt petre leaching vats.  

Booth and a group of actors visited Mammoth Cave in 1876. He wrote about his joke-telling cave guide in a letter to his daughter: 

“We went laughing at his weak jokes; for it was funny to us actors to see this fellow throwing his wit at us, and our appreciation of his acting made him very happy.” 

Legend has it that Edwin Booth recited from Hamlet from a high natural stage within the room, thus the named Booth’s Amphitheatre.   

NPS Mobile App Users: Click here to watch a video of a ranger at Booth's Amphitheatre.