If you’ve ever taken a walk in historic downtown Jacksonville, you can’t miss it, the McCully House Inn. The owners of the inn, Kathryn Moseley and Philip Segal, bought it in July 2021 and started restoring it.
“It’s an iconic corner,” said Moseley.
They said it anchors historic downtown Jacksonville, but have you ever noticed what’s sitting right behind it.
“I would research and found these maps from the 1880’s and learned that it once had been McCully’s property,” said Moseley.
The Jacksonville Lumber Company.
“I had been quite fascinated by it and did some researching and tracked down the owner of the lumberyard,” said Moseley.
After 2 years of research and communicating back and forth with the owner of the yard, Moseley said she finally made some headway.
” She finally said yes.”
Moseley and Segal bought the land the abandoned lumberyard currently sits on.
“The lumber yard gives us the space we want for our master plan,” said Segal.
They said the master plan includes finishing the front yard and garden restoration, building a bakery and restaurant; and now with the lumber yard in their possession, they plan to create a larger garden, in the hopes of possibly hosting movie showings.
“Imagine coming by next summer and having a picnic in the backyard and we could play some classic movies, there’s so many opportunities,” said Moseley.
Moseley and Segal said obtaining ownership of the lumberyard means a lot to them.
“The McCully house was right up to the property line, so we couldn’t access the back to do painting or do some of the most basic things,” Moseley said.
They said this means even more to the people of Jacksonville and the ones who visit.
“It has rich history and if we don’t keep the downtown historic corridor full of inns and shops and retail and restaurants and food, it’s going to lose its identity and it will disappear,” Segal said.
The owners said the land still needs to be cleared, but they’re currently working on a design for the space. They hope to have things finished for the Summer 2024.
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