“We’re catering to the business industry in this area who have visiting executives or employees who want to stay in something other than a hotel,” Jacki Gross said. “Some people want that home feeling when they travel.”
There are several large companies near Lewisburg, including Henny Penny, Cargill, Payless Shoes and Lewisburg Container.
The home has a large kitchen that will be available to guests. Three guest rooms have their own bathrooms.
“It’s not a bed and breakfast. We won’t be staying in the home, and we want visitors to have their privacy,” Jacki Gross said.
Companies have already started holding business retreats in the 2,600-square-foot home. It’s also open for parties, Jacki Gross said.
The Grosses are no strangers to refurbishing homes built in the 1800s. Just up the road on U.S. 40 (National Road) and Ohio 503, the couple restored the Toll Road House. The home was built around 1836 when builders of National Road ran out of money and started a toll for travelers until construction could begin again toward Indiana.
The couple restored the home and filled it with items and furniture from that period.
The East North Water Street Guest House was designed in a contemporary style. Jerry Gross said they found siding on the inside and outside of the home when they stripped it down for the refurbishing.
The back, which housed the wagon and carriage shop, and the front of the guest house were built in different time periods. A photo was found in the house of a Dayton manufacturing giving an Army tank demonstration in 1918 that shows only a portion of the house.
Jerry Gross, a pharmacist for Kroger, has been doing mission work in Belize, a poor Central American country, since 1986. In the 1990s, he partnered with the Good Shepherd Clinic to help needy children.
Now, the couple has started a scholarship fund, Cows for Kids, to help send needy children to school in the country. Jacki Gross says many families in Belize cannot send their children to school because they can’t afford the cost.
“It’s heartbreaking to see that some of the children can’t attend school. In the U.S., we take this for granted,”she said.
The couple funded scholarships for 76 children last year and hope to help out 100 this year. That’s where profit from their new guest house business will go.
“We hope to help out as many as we can,” Jerry Gross said.
For more information on the home, the couple has started a Facebook page or can be contacted at (937) 408-3431.
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