Cave City, Kentucky: Guntown Mountain (Closed)

My husband and I took our daughter and 3 grandchildren to Gun Town Mountain as a side trip on our way to Tennessee. We all had a wonderful time! The shoot-out was great, and we all enjoyed the can-can show with the comic "drunk." The country western music performance was also very good. All in all, I would highly recommend a stop at Guntown Mountain if you find yourself in this area.

When our family visited Mammoth Cave, KY, we were interested in finding a "secondary" point of interest to round out our trip to the area - and we found it in Gun Town Mountain.

Opened in 1970, Gun Town Mountain sits atop a bluff, overlooking the Cave City area. We took a quaint 5 minute chair-lift ride (which, in itself, was a highlight for our pre-teen kids) to the top to find an entire city block of reconstructed western style buildings.

Although the ambience was more than adequate, it was the actors and performers which gave this attraction a "two thumbs up" rating in our book. From the "Can Can Girls", to the Western shootouts in the street, to the incredible sounding "top shelf" band which performed on multiple occasions, our entire family was occupied with programs which ran the duration of the day. After "siting" for an old-tyme portrait from the town photographer, we left Gun Town Mountain throughly pleased with our nearly full-day experience.

One single caveat: If you attend anticipating a mega-million "six flags" experience, you may want to realign your expectations to what Gun Town Mountain really has to offer: 3-4 hours of great family fun and entertainment, all arranged and choreographed by a host of talented actors and musicians.

One final tip: For $1, the Town Marshall will arrest a family member and put them in a real jail - for 5 minutes (For our kids, this gave new meaning to the term "time out".).

What at first looked like a waste of time and money actually turned out to be a cute and fun outing. They have a shoot-out in the middle of town, a magic show in the saloon, as well as a cute skit. They put on a comedy show with a lot of stunts in the old run-down saloon. The best part was the actual country band that plays throughout the summer. They were really good.

The shops left a lot to be desired.

A ski lift takes you up the mountain to where costumed people act out western scenarios, including a gunfight right down in main street. Set up like an old west town. The site also has a ferris wheel, multiple gift shops, and Onyx Cave.

A few miles down the road to Horse Cave and back out towards the interstate is Kentucky Down Under. You can sometimes see bison roaming near the enternce but once inside you are in the outback -- its an australian themed zoo--kangaroos and tropical birds, with a small cave in the center of the site.