Onyx Cave celebrates completion of Rock Shop expansion

CAVE CITY, Ky. (WNKY) — Onyx Cave celebrated the completion of an expansion to its Rock Shop with a ribbon cutting Wednesday.

The project, which began last year, adds space to the Rock Shop toward the hillside, where the cave entrance is located.

Owner Missy Shields said the Rock Shop was originally built in 2005 and ended at the concrete wall where the new addition now begins.

The expansion also allows cave tours to begin from inside the Rock Shop. The additional space gives the business room to offer more rocks, minerals, fossils and jewelry.

Shields said the project also incorporates wood with a connection to the property. Trees lost during a 2023 windstorm were milled into lumber that was later used for the shop’s counters.

Shields said she first became connected to Onyx Cave as a teenager after she and her twin sister, who collected Beanie Babies in the 1990s, applied for jobs at the cave. She said that first job eventually led her to study rocks in college and continue working with the cave.

The expansion is part of the continued development of the Onyx Cave attraction at 93 Huckleberry Knob Road in Cave City.