diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/CacheFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/CacheFactoryBean.java
index 50622b4c..300cdc26 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/CacheFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/CacheFactoryBean.java
@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ public class CacheFactoryBean implements BeanNameAware, BeanFactoryAware, BeanCl
 	protected String beanName;
 
 	protected boolean useBeanFactoryLocator = true;
+	
+	protected boolean close = true;
 
 	// PDX options
 	protected Object pdxSerializer;
@@ -405,6 +407,9 @@ public class CacheFactoryBean implements BeanNameAware, BeanFactoryAware, BeanCl
 
 	@Override
 	public void destroy() throws Exception {
+		if (!close) {
+			return;
+		}
 		if (cache != null && !cache.isClosed()) {
 			cache.close();
 		}
@@ -614,6 +619,14 @@ public class CacheFactoryBean implements BeanNameAware, BeanFactoryAware, BeanCl
 	public void setCriticalHeapPercentage(Float criticalHeapPercentage) {
 		this.criticalHeapPercentage = criticalHeapPercentage;
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * 
+	 * @param close set to false if destroy() should not close the cache
+	 */
+	public void setClose(boolean close) {
+		this.close = close;
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/CacheParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/CacheParser.java
index 45469990..4a82ee2b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/CacheParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/CacheParser.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ class CacheParser extends AbstractSimpleBeanDefinitionParser {
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "search-timeout");
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "critical-heap-percentage");
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "eviction-heap-percentage");
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "close");
 
 		List<Element> txListeners = DomUtils.getChildElementsByTagName(element, "transaction-listener");
 		if (!CollectionUtils.isEmpty(txListeners)) {
diff --git a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.3.xsd b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.3.xsd
index 31e13b1f..e1188eff 100755
--- a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.3.xsd
+++ b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.3.xsd
@@ -239,6 +239,15 @@ JavaDocs for com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.control.ResourceManager for more informa
             ]]></xsd:documentation>
             </xsd:annotation>
         </xsd:attribute>
+        <xsd:attribute name="close" default="true">
+            <xsd:annotation>
+                <xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+Determines if the cache should be closed when the application context is closed. This value is 
+true by default but should be set to false if deploying multiple applications in a jvm that share the 
+same cache instance.
+            ]]></xsd:documentation>
+            </xsd:annotation>
+        </xsd:attribute>
     </xsd:complexType>
     <!-- -->
     <xsd:element name="cache">
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0697265c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * 
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on
+ * an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.data.gemfire.config;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertSame;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+
+import com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.Cache;
+
+/**
+ * @author David Turanski
+ *
+ */
+
+public class MultipleCacheTest {
+	@Test
+	public void testMultipleCaches() {
+		String resourcePath = "/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest-context.xml";
+		
+		ConfigurableApplicationContext ctx1 = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(resourcePath);
+		ConfigurableApplicationContext ctx2 = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(resourcePath);
+		Cache cache1 = ctx1.getBean(Cache.class);
+		Cache cache2 = ctx2.getBean(Cache.class);
+		assertSame(cache1,cache2);
+		ctx1.close();
+		ctx2.close();
+		assertFalse(cache1.isClosed());
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/fork/SpringCacheServerProcess.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/fork/SpringCacheServerProcess.java
index 86d7fb05..a792ed45 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/fork/SpringCacheServerProcess.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/fork/SpringCacheServerProcess.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ package org.springframework.data.gemfire.fork;
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 
+import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.data.gemfire.ForkUtil;
 
@@ -24,19 +25,22 @@ import org.springframework.data.gemfire.ForkUtil;
  */
 public class SpringCacheServerProcess {
 	public static void main(String[] args) {
+		ConfigurableApplicationContext ctx = null;
 		try {
-			new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(args[0]);
+			ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(args[0]);
 			ForkUtil.createControlFile(SpringCacheServerProcess.class.getName());
 	 
 			BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
 			System.out.println("Waiting for shutdown");
 			bufferedReader.readLine();
-
-			
 			
 		} catch (Exception e) {
 			e.printStackTrace();
 			System.exit(1);
+		} finally {
+			if (ctx != null) {
+				ctx.close();
+			}
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest-context.xml b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..194d0be8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/MultipleCacheTest-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	default-lazy-init="true"
+	xmlns:gfe="http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire/spring-gemfire-1.3.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
+
+	<gfe:cache use-bean-factory-locator="false" close="false"/>
+</beans>