Foreword

Welcome to the first edition of the Cornerstone Chronicle! My name is Joy. My husband Jeremy, son Asher and I recently moved from Colorado to a beautiful estate built in 1794 outside of Springfield, Kentucky. We have since opened a wedding and event venue on our property and are in the midst of adding many facets to the business. We have been surrounded by love and support for this transition and have been touched by the immense amount of interest in our lives and business. There has been more information than we have had the capacity to provide good updates to everyone on and so many of you have been asking for details, details, DETAILS on what we are up to. So, we ended up here 😊 I never really saw myself as a “blogger”, but I am so grateful and excited to be on this amazing journey and there are many sweet and special stories to share.  I feel this is a great fit and I am eager to share our stories with you. So, with big dreams in my heart, I invite you to follow our journey, lessons, updates and projects through this chronicle.  It means the world to us that you care enough to follow along.  If you have questions, or ideas of topics you would like in future editions, please let me know.  And with that, we are off!

CC#1: Dream Chasers – How the journey began…

“One life. Just one. Why aren’t we running like we are on fire towards our wildest dreams?”  ~Unknown~

Life has a funny way of adding a curve in your path that you did not know was coming up! Suddenly, it is just there.  This particular curve was this past July.  My husband and I were on vacation with our 7-year-old son Asher.  We were traveling through Tennessee and Kentucky for vacation, but also with an eye out for “someday we would like to end up in this area when we retire” areas.  Admittedly, before we left on vacation, we had been having much discussion about our big picture plans and dreams for after retirement. We discussed the economy and growth in Colorado and understood to start a business, we would probably need to move to another state and we both really liked Tennessee and Kentucky.  The year leading up to this trip had been full of grief from losing both of my parents, burnout from our jobs and a restlessness that we struggled to put our finger on.  The idea for after retirement that we kept coming back to was an event business.  As two people who had worked in law enforcement our entire adult lives, we wanted a way to integrate into our community and develop opportunities to bring people together.  The idea of owning our own business seemed magical.

On the long road trip to Tennessee, we further hashed out the idea of an event business, what it might look like, who ideal clients might be, how a property would ideally work, if we wanted to live on the same property, etc. All that discussion gradually became less wandering and more specific, and the vision became clearer.  As we traveled through Tennessee, we happened to see a neat property.  It inspired us to look to see when and how we would make a transition.  A week later, while visiting my sister Christy in Kentucky, we discussed the property and our ideas.  She encouraged us to consider Kentucky for its beauty and affordability.  We had not seen many available properties that met our priorities at that point, so she had us talk her realtor and friend Monica. Monica was kind and eager to help any way she could. She listened to our ideas and put us on a list to see new listings.  A few days later, I was up late reading because I couldn’t sleep.  At 1:06 am, a message from Monica popped up describing a property:

The land is gorgeous, the views phenomenal! The stately home, the guest house, the smokehouse, log cabin, cook shed, and barn all add to the beauty of the land. The home is a treasure, restored by a true craftsman. The integrity of the home’s history remains while still addressing comfort, functionality, and energy efficient features. Restoration has been done with reclaimed materials enhancing the original structure. This property located just off the bourbon Trail offers so many investment opportunities as well. It just may be your heaven on earth.

The listing sounded intriguing, but there were no photos of the house, so I assumed it was probably not in great shape.  The next morning as we were leaving to run an errand, I mentioned the listing and showed it to my husband and sister.  My sister encouraged that we drive by since we would be close by the property. We called Monica to see if she might be available and see if she had time to go too.  She did not, so she called the showing agent, Barb, who was surprised to learn the listing was live.  They were taking photos of the property that day and planned to make it live that night.  She kindly invited us to stop by and offered to show us around.

I will never forget driving down the lane toward the address surrounded by gorgeous green Kentucky countryside and lined with historic stone fence.  As we turned into the circle drive, Jeremy looked over at me and said, “Let’s put an offer on this place!” He bounded out of the car and left me completely shocked. If you know Jeremy, he is not impulsive – at all.

Barb was lovely, and greeted us with a sweet smile and was very knowledgeable about the property.  She began by showing us the cabin and other outbuildings.  I was taken aback by the lush property with numerous trees and beautiful flowers. The buildings each had so much character and history, it was mind boggling.  Then we came to the actual estate house, and it was a showstopper.  Everyone walked on inside and began the tour while I stood staring at the front porch and balcony. All of the details and care put into every facet of the exterior was pristine.  The number 1794 just rolled through my mind over and over making me wonder at the people in over 200 years that had stood in that exact spot.  As I stood still on the lawn, I got an intense feeling of serendipity. Like I was standing exactly where I was supposed to be and doing exactly what I was supposed to do.  I only felt that strong sense like that one other time – right before I walked down the aisle to marry Jeremy.  My heart began to race, and I walked up the front steps, opened the front door and stopped in my tracks looking at one of the most beautiful, curved staircases I have ever seen.  That was the precise moment my mind was completely blown, and I just could not believe we were standing in the gorgeous home.  The dream merged with the thought that this was the place for our future.

I took my time walking through each room of the house, feeling a sense of comfort and love within it.  I recognize now that it was from all the diligent care the owners had put into every decision, repair, improvement, and daily life.  When I say every room was incredible, I mean it. I will give you all a tour in a future chronicle.  We were finishing our tour when Barb asked if we might want to meet the owners.  We could not wait to meet the creative and talented geniuses capable of what we just witnessed.  We then met Andy and Jamie Mills, the owners and two wonderful pups.  They were so gracious and welcoming.  We were in awe of them in all honesty.  When Jamie asked me what our plans would be with a property like this one, I shared our dream of a wedding venue. I cringed thinking she would be frightened by all the chaos and traffic that idea might bring to the property.  Instead, she lit up and told me about her daughters’ weddings on the property and gave me tons of ideas. I literally had to drag Jeremy back to the car after we had to have overstayed our welcome.  He didn’t stop talking about the property the entire ride back to Christy’s house.  We both felt it…that sense of a once in a lifetime moment and the rightness of being in that spot on the Earth.

That night we took all our photos and videos and put them on the big screen for everyone to see.  Jeremy then shared a story Andy had told him about historic cornerstones being placed around the property including one from the first Jim Beam barn.  As everyone was discussing the property I sat there mulling over cornerstones and their importance for building foundations that last. Suddenly, I blurted out “Cornerstone Acres – A cornerstone for your milestones!”  At that moment, the dream grew wings and began to soar.

We put a contingent offer on the property.  We were still in Kentucky and left Colorado for vacation, not with any thought of putting our house on the market quickly. Fortunately, we had an incredible friend and amazing realtor Alice, who came to our house while we were still gone to get things started and scheduled an open house quickly following our return.  After we got back to Colorado, the real estate market dropped, and we became worried that the dream we were so sure of might not happen.  Through perseverance and faith, we rode the waves and thanks to our wonderful team of realtors, we were able to find buyers for our house and close on our dream home.  We concluded our careers in law enforcement, packed up our house, said goodbye to the known and leapt.

On November 2, 2022, at 2:30 am in fog and with coyotes howling in the background, the dream chasers arrived at Cornerstone Acres.

“If you have a dream, you need to follow it. And not just follow it, but chase after it, sprint toward it. Go towards it with passion, a fighting spirit, with the courage to do whatever it takes to make it happen. Too many people are walking around with silenced dreams that they thought were too big, too unrealistic, too impossible. Don’t let that be you. You do have the strength, you are capable, you do have what it takes.  You can accomplish even your wildest dreams. The only question is: Do you have a few tiny moments of courage to say: yes?” ~Nikki Banas~

Next –

CC #2: The Mills, a 1794 house, and a girl named Annie