Corvette Museum considering keeping sinkhole as attraction

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The National Corvette Museum is considering keeping a sinkhole that swallowed eight Corvettes as an attraction because of the additional attendance it’s generated.

Museum spokeswoman Katie Frassinelli recently told The Courier-Journal in an email that attendance at the museum located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, rose 56 percent in March and 48 percent last month after the 40-foot-wide-by-60-foot-deep sinkhole formed Feb. 12.

“The sinkhole is a part of not only the museum’s history but also Corvette history,” she said. “We are in the business to preserve the history of the car — which now includes a sinkhole.”

Current visitors can see the sinkhole and museum officials are considering installing a glass floor or bridge above the hole. Frassinelli said stairs that would take visitors into the hole are also being considered.

Workers exhumed the last of the eight Corvettes in March. General Motors representatives are scheduled to meet with museum officials this month to inspect each of the cars and determine which will be restored, according to the museum’s blog.

The Corvettes that are not restored will be kept as part of a permanent display about the sinkhole.

The sinkhole happened when the museum was closed, and no one was injured. Sinkholes are common in the Bowling Green area, which is located amid a large region of bedrock known as karst where many of Kentucky’s largest and deepest caves run underground.