Sara Craighead, Superintendent of Mammoth Cave National Park

Years ago this extraordinary woman was already being noticed for her achievements. Craighead was featured in the Death Valley Journal blog as a Woman of Death Valley. And even before this, her path was leading her to her position today as superintendent of Mammoth Cave National Park.

In 1974 she was valedictorian of Caverna High School in Cave City. That summer she took seasonal employment at Mammoth Cave National Park while attending Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in biology. “My very first job was selling crafts at the Mammoth Cave Hotel. The cave was my jumping off point with the National Park Service. Now, more than thirty years later, I have the honor of managing the park."

Before becoming superintendent in 2012, Craighead served as the superintendent of Saguaro National Park (Tucson, Ariz.) and was the first superintendent of Washita Battlefield National Historic Site (Cheyenne, Okla). "... It is a little different trying to get used to managing that whole subsurface environment with the complexity of just getting goods and services down there," said Superintendent Craighead.

SOURCES
Courier Journal
www.nationalparkstraveler.com
Death Valley Journal
Image: National Parks Service

Comments

800 Facebook Likes!

Yippee! EWLS fans are awesome! Thank you all so much for sharing and liking our FB page. Since last February when we announced 700 likes, we have gained a blog and our annual event is ramping up for some major festivities. Please check out our Extraordinary Women Cavers (EWC's) who will be featured in this year's publication and sign up so that you can get in on these limited caving trips to gated and protected caves in the Magic Valley area of Idaho! Have a great day everyone and thank you for supporting women cavers! LINKS Webpage: www.ewls.org EWC's: www.ewls.org/past-editions.html Annual Event: www.ewls.org/all-grrs-cave-trip.html Annual Event FB page: www.facebook.com/events/127091664128055

QUOTE: Marie M. Daly

"Courage is like — it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: you get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging." Marie M. Daly (1921–2003), Biochemist & the first African American woman in the US to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Sioux Legend of the Old Woman in the Cave

According to Sioux legend, as told by Chief Lost Feather, there is a secret and mysterious cave that is located on the West Mountain (near Hot Springs, Arkansas). There's an old woman and a dog that have been living in this cave for many generations. The old woman never grows any older. The dog never ages, either. They both stay exactly the same, and they have since anybody can remember. The old woman spends her days weaving a rug. She is using pine needles that she has collected in the nearby pine forest. The old woman has been weaving now for many centuries, and yet the rug never gets any bigger. The dog watches his mistress weave through narrow slits in his eyes as he appears to just nap in the corner. Occasionally the old woman puts the rug down and leaves it while she goes to stir the pot of soup that she has cooking on a fire at the mouth of the cave. The soup has probably been cooking for several centuries, as well. The minute the old w...

Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

Search This Blog