Mammoth for over 50 years, until Bransford died in 1895. Harold Meloy, writing about Bishop in the book Cavers, Caves, & Caving states that "Pittsburgh millionaire James R. Mellon" visited the cave for one week in November 1878, where he heard stories of Bishop and met Charlotte, who then managed the hotel dining room. She led him to Stephen's gravesite, "which had only a cedar tree to mark it." Mellon promised to have a headstone carved for Stephen's grave. Three years later, Mellon arranged for a monument carver to prepare a second-hand tombstone, one that a Civil War soldier's family had not paid for (hence the appearance of a sword and flag in the lunette). The stone mason chiseled off the original name and placed an inscription that read, STEPHEN BISHOP, FIRST GUIDE & EXPLORER OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE. DIED JUNE 15, 1859 IN HIS 37 YEAR. The stone was shipped to the cave and installed on Bishop's grave. Meloy states "The error in the date of death [1859 vs. 1857] detracted nothing from the legend now reinforced by a permanent record in stone." References Notes Citations Further reading Roger W. Brucker, Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar: Stephen Bishop at Mammoth Cave, 2009. Historical novel written from the point of view of Bishop's wife, Charlotte Brown. (pb) / (hb) Alex Irvine, A Scattering of Jades, 2002. Novel's main section takes place in and around Mammoth with Bishop as a major character. External links Stephen Bishop United States National Park Service webpage about Bishop Map of the explored parts of the Mammoth Cave of KY. (1845) on the Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA), Tennessee State Library and Archives (accessed May 7, 2021). Peter West, "Trying the Dark: Mammoth Cave and the Racial Imagination, 1839–1869", Southern Spaces, 9 February 2010 "The Celebrated Black Explorer Stephen Bishop and Mammoth Cave: Observations by an English Journalist in 1853" by Gary A. O’Dell and Angelo I. George, National Speleological News, September 2018 1821 births 1857 deaths American cavers American explorers Free Negroes Mammoth Cave National Park 19th-century American slaves African-American history of Kentucky