What’s under this little house? An explorable secret cave!

Could you even imagine opening your basement door and instead of descending creaky stairs to a damp space with a noisy furnace and dodgy things growing on the stone walls, you were greeted instead by a gigantic secret cave?

It sounds unreal, but we assure you it is very real for a Pennsylvania family.

If you’re up for a long drive and weekend adventure, the not-so-secret cave under the house is about a four-hour drive from central New York to Greencastle, Pennsylvania in the county of Franklin, not too far from Gettysburg (hey, make it a whole weekend and check out the battlegrounds after your antics in a cool cave!).

The story behind the cave with a house sitting above is interesting. Formerly called Baker Caverns, Black Coffey Caverns was a popular place for the public to visit from 1932 to 1954 but was closed to everyone except the owner and researchers until now! The caves are once again open to the public.

In 1932, when the the cave was opened for the first time for visitors, a small structure was built above the entrance, but over the years this small structure grew and grew until it eventually became an entire house.

Cave tours Take about 45 minutes, and during that time you can explore about 3,000 feet of passages that have been discovered so far. People who have visited the cave say they can’t get over the fact that they walk through a basement door and all of a sudden they feel like they’ve entered Fraggle Rock.

The house and the cave being private, visits are by reservation only. Black Coffey Caverns typically offers an open house weekend once a month and admission is by donation only – no fixed admission.

You can follow Black-Coffey Caverns and watch their open house tours on their Facebook page and website. Keep in mind that this is someone’s house, so don’t just show up and expect to be able to make your way into their space, because you won’t.