Cave House Craft Shop one step closer to new home

ABINGDON, Va. – The Cave House Craft Shop came one step closer to a new home Tuesday.

The town of Abingdon has proposed a lease or purchase of the recently vacated county sheriff’s office administration building by the craft cooperative that runs the Cave House, which has existed here for more than three decades.

The Holston Mountain Artisans will close the Cave House doors just after Christmas, said Donna Price, craft shop manager, and must vacate its current building, which is in serious need of repair, shortly thereafter.

So on Tuesday, in a 6-1 vote, the Washington County Board of Supervisors sent a proposal on the old sheriff’s office to its facilities committee for consideration, to be followed by a Dec. 8 board vote.

“The Cave House needs a new location, there’s this property … and we don’t have any plans to utilize the buildings right now,” board Chairman Kenneth Reynolds said. “So I don’t have any problem with turning it into something useful if the town can lease it, make improvements on it, and the county can keep the building.”

In a Nov. 17 letter, Mayor Ed Morgan asked the county to consider swift action to let the Cave House move down the hill into the old sheriff’s office building.

“It’s important to note that the Cave House Craft Shop has been a fixture in the town for approximately 35 years,” wrote Morgan, who also has a personal interest in the craft shop: It’s where he met his wife.

“The town views the Cave House as a vital component of our cultural enrichment as well as our tourism and economic markets,” Morgan wrote. “As such, we deem it a vital mission to keep them within the town if at all possible.”

He described the building’s Park Street location as prime for the development of specialty shops and other businesses, tying into a walkable, revitalized downtown district beside a main entry point for the Virginia Creeper Trail.

“To be able to relocate the Cave House to Park Street would be a tremendous boost in getting trail users from the trailhead into the downtown area of Abingdon to conduct business,” he wrote. “This of course would also keep the cooperative in existence as a result of a great community service effort.”

He wrote, too, that the old, 1950s-era jail could be transformed into a cultural venue, featuring artisan and other aspects of a “cultural hub” for the town. But the century-old administration was the focus Tuesday.

“Our time right now is very limited,” said Ray Hall, president of the board of the Holston Mountain Artisans. “We’re looking for a home.”

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