Our Story
Our story begins when Lisa was growing up. Lisa’s grandparents had a 183-acre farm outside of Minor Hill Tennessee. She has many memories of playing in the creek with her sisters every summer. When Lisa and I got married almost 40 years ago, I loved going to visit the farm. I had always wanted a place with a cabin and creek. A place to get away from it all.
After her grandmother passed, the family decided to sell the farm. We didn’t have the money at that time to buy it and it broke our hearts to watch it sell. After many years passed and we had a little money we went back to the farm and asked the owner if he would sell. He said he would never sell it. That is when we started looking for a place. In 2013 we found our place in Waynesboro, Tennessee. We fell in love with it as soon as we saw it.
When we first bought it the old homeplace had been torn down and the only thing left was the old chimney. It was so old, mud had been used for mortar. I had the chimney repaired and we built the saloon around it. We also built the out house close by.
Robert, the fellow we bought the property from, told us there was a 90-year-old lady that would come and get her water out of the natural springs. We got to meet her one day and she asked if we minded her getting her water. She said that this used to be her aunt and uncle’s home place and she had always gotten her water from the springs. She said it was the best water ever. The place was known as the Dixon home place
The natural springs had almost formed its own pond, so I decided to have it dug out and built the pond. We had the pond stocked with fish and recently added the fountain.
The next thing we built was the cabin. We just wanted a small cabin on the creek. It took us almost a year to complete. A neighbor down the road had a lot of old barnwood, so I met with him and told him we were building a cabin and would like to buy some of the wood to use inside our cabin. He told me I could have it all if we just clean up everything.
What a deal!
We then built the Pavilion. We wanted a fireplace, so we gathered a lot of rocks from the creek to build it. We added an outdoor shower, bar and kitchen.
Next was the chapel, so we built a pole barn and made part of it a chapel. The old pews came from an old black church in Anniston Alabama. The church dated back to the 1800’s.
We are not sure how old the pews are. We bought stained glass film for the windows. We used cedar tongue and groove for the ceiling that we bought from the Amish.
It’s been a long journey but all in all it turned out just as we wanted. We still plan on building more at some point.
Being able to have our son’s wedding as the first in the new chapel was the icing on the top.
Your hosts – Gregg & Lisa
Let Rustic Haven help bring your special event to life—just the way you imagined, down to every last detail.
- (256) 412-5944
- (256) 291-6862
- rustichavenevents@gmail.com
- Located along Forty-Eight Creek, Middle Tennessee
Rustic Haven
3173 Mathney Rd
Waynesboro, TN 38485