Larkin Procter

Larkin Procter

Quick Facts

Significance:

Cave owner and manager

Date of Birth:

March 12, 1822

Date of Death:

November 19, 1895

Place of Burial:

Park City, Kentucky, USA

Cemetery Name:

Bell Cemetery

Larkin J. Procter (1822 – 1895) was a business owner, hotel manager, and cave developer in the Mammoth Cave area in the mid to late nineteenth century. Larkin Procter leased and managed the cave and hotel businesses at Mammoth Cave from 1856 to 1861, and again from 1866 to 1871. Later, he owned his own businesses at Procter Cave, Procter Hotel, and Grand Avenue Cave (Long Cave). Procter also held the charter for the Mammoth Cave Railroad and was largely responsible for the creation of the line and the placement of rail stations at Grand Avenue Cave and at Diamond Caverns (which was managed by his brother, George Procter). 

Prior to entering the business of tourism, Larkin Procter was a lawyer and politician. Procter was first elected as a representative of Lewis County, Kentucky in the state legislature in 1845. Two years later he was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, the youngest member of that convention. In the years between his first and second tenures as manger at Mammoth Cave, Procter was once again elected to the state legislature as a representative of Edmonson County, Kentucky.