Dixie Caverns is a commercial

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

located in the

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

community of Roanoke County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, USA, four miles west of Salem. The cave is a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

solution cave.

Description and access

Visitors may explore the caverns in a 45-minute guided tour. The caverns were found by two farm boys in 1920 after their dog, Dixie, fell through a hole that led to the caves. They decided to name the caverns after their dog in honor of his discovery. Guided tours of the caverns were begun in 1923. The best known attraction is a bell-shaped

flowstone Flowstones are sheetlike deposits of calcite or other carbonate minerals, formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave. They are typically found in "solution caves", in limestone, where they are the most common speleothe ...

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

known as the "Wedding Bell". Weddings have been held under the Bell. The cave is located in a hill overlooking the surrounding region.

External links

Dixie Caverns website
Caves of Virginia Show caves in the United States Limestone caves Landforms of Roanoke County, Virginia Tourist attractions in Roanoke County, Virginia {{RoanokeCountyVA-geo-stub