UTICA – For a second career, attorney Doug Morgan of Mount Vernon combined two passions: history and woodworking.
He began a business using wood from old Ohio barns to build houses and other structures.
“When my daughter was married five years ago on our farm, I put up a huge barn for her wedding that we continue to use for family gatherings,” Morgan told the Mount Vernon News. “People love it. We are making a lot of memories there.”
Morgan was often asked if he would rent the barn out for other weddings. The answer was no because it is right next to the family home.
“But that got me thinking about creating some sort of wedding venue in an historic setting,” he said.
A year ago, he found a property that would fit the bill. It was an old mill in Utica about 15 minutes form Morgan’s farm outside Mount Vernon.
“The original grist mill there was built in 1815,” he said. “That mill is gone, demolished in the 1960s. But three of the original buildings are still there. We converted them to the coolest special-event/wedding venue.”
The old mill building is 70 feet tall. It has been converted into a bed-and-breakfast inn.
The previous owners of the property had a microdistillery, making bourbon and brandy from locally-grown corn and fruit.
“We acquired the distillery as well, and we’re reopening that,” Morgan said.
A big believer in historic preservation, Morgan realizes that buildings have to pay their own way in order to justify the cost of restoring and maintaining them. He noted that adaptive reuse — turning barns and other old buildings into wedding venues and inns — is a way to accomplish it.
“You’ve got to find a way for them to be useful in the 21st century,” he said.
So far, he has at least six weddings booked for this year at the Mill Street Meeting House in Utica.
Morgan also purchased a mansion in Utica, constructed in 1856, approximately three blocks from the mill.
“We have restored it and turned it into a small-event venue and bed-and-breakfast inn,” he said. “It’s a fabulous piece of architecture that was on the Underground Railroad, with trap doors where runaway slaves could come into the house.”
Find out more at millstreetohio.com.
