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Hidden treasure 

Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns
Photo: Diamond Caverns

Though the weather this month can be frightful, some Kentucky destinations are delightful all year. Diamond Caverns in Park City is one of those, maintaining a temperature of 58 degrees year-round underground. 

Diamond Caverns is located near Mammoth Cave National Park, and while the caverns don’t compete in size—Mammoth is the world’s longest known cave system—they are a little easier to access, just one mile off I-65 at exit 48, says Stanley Sides, one of the owners. 

“[Visitors] can take a one-hour cave tour, then get back on the interstate and head on to wherever they’re going,” he says. 

Sides, his wife, Kay, and four other couples, purchased the cave in 1999. Sides wrote a booklet about the cave’s history, and it’s available for purchase during visits.

The Mammoth Cave system has sandstone caprock that protects it, but in Diamond Caverns, the sandstone caprock has eroded. “Diamond is full of formations, and in that sense, has sort of thrived as a show cave since 1859,” Sides says. 

Diamond Caverns was discovered by a local enslaved person. Sides writes, “Lowered on a rope into the cave, this first visitor thought sparkling calcite formations resembled diamonds, and the name for the cave was born.”

Diamond Caverns is “the second oldest show cave in the central Kentucky cave region, and fourth oldest operating commercial cave in the United States,” Sides writes.

Sides, who lives in Missouri, has explored caves in Kentucky since 1962. He is a past president of the Cave Research Foundation. He thought his affinity for caves would eventually work out of his system, “but at this point, after all these years, it just won’t let me go yet.” 

Diamond Caverns is located at 1900 Mammoth Cave Parkway in Park City. Tours are first-come, first-served, but groups larger than 20 should book ahead. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST. Cost is $24 for adults; $12 for children ages 4–12. Find out more at DiamondCaverns.com.

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