Photo by Jay Paul
Huge tree trunks are lined up alongside a vast open field like cars waiting to enter a highway onramp at the 100-acre property in Hanover County owned by Martha Ellen Wingfield and Scott Adams. “Most of those trees were given to me,” Adams says.
Last year, the nature-oriented couple embarked on a new endeavor, Marl Ridge Millworks. It’s not your great-grandfather’s mill within a vast barn-like structure by a river. This mill is an uncovered bright-orange mechanical device that resembles an 18-foot ladder placed horizontally on the ground, with a sliding vertical frame that holds the cutting blade. “We have to do it log by log,” Adams says.
On land that has been in Wingfield’s family since the 1700s, planks of thickly cut wood are laid out on nearby racks and in a 100-year-old faded red barn to dry.
“We only use trees that have fallen,” Adams says. “We’re not cutting trees just for slab. Mostly we deal with homeowners who have a tree too close to the house who say, ‘Hey, I don’t want the tree to go to waste. Let’s do something with it.’ ”
Adams and Wingfield have turned what started as a hobby into a business that mills local trees into slabs and rough-cut lumber for woodworkers, fence posts for landowners and earthy canvases for hobbyists. Both are used to working with trees. As a part-time employee with the Virginia Department of Forestry, Adams measures tree and forest health around the state. Wingfield is an environmental educator with the Blue Sky Fund, a nonprofit that provides outdoor education to urban youth.
Woodworker Louis Reichbauer recently used materials from Marl Ridge to create a standard three-drawer, modern-industrial-design desk with planks of dark walnut and light maple marked by a speckled and busy grain.
“I like using spalted maple,” says Reichbauer, who makes his living as a computer-aided design (CAD) drafter for a landscape architecture firm. “It has a wild grain. When there’s a lot of natural fungus and mineral deposits … there’s an interesting grain pattern when it is air-dried.”
Photo by Jay Paul
Adams’ main job is to manage the wood and mill. Wingfield assists with hauling and lifting, while also keeping the books and directing the mill's social media, which is filled with images of gnarled wood, grainy planks and vistas that the couple encounter on their walks through Virginia woods.
Wingfield says the mill gives a satisfying payback. “The most beautiful aspect is when you open the tree and see the grain,” she says.
“That’s so rewarding,” Adams adds.
What’s the best decision you made?
“Taking the summer to lay the groundwork[for the business] to track everything financially. It’s going well, but we are also realizing we wanted to work part time to invest and grow.” —Martha Ellen Wingfield
What's something you'd do differently?
“I would have shopped more wisely. Buying used equipment can sometimes be stressful.” —Scott Adams
“We went through a couple of used trucks.” —MEW
