Michael Faucher's auto restoration business needed more space. So he and his wife, Angie, decided to buy an old mill.
While this might not seem logical, it made perfect sense to the Fauchers.
"It seemed like a good fit to us - it's an old building, and I work with older cars," says Michael, a disabled veteran who served as a Marine for three years.
After searching on and off for five years, the couple purchased and began renovating Double Shoals Cotton Mill, 199 Old Mill Rd., Shelby, in June 2016. The building offered 50,000 square feet of space, more than enough for his car restoration business, Corbett's Auto Restoration/Fabbit Customs. There was even room for home schooling the couple's two children, Rachel and Sam, and to provide studio space for Angie Faucher to teach art classes through her business, Old Mill Art Studios.
Now they are encouraging others to join them in their tranquil, historic location.
"We want to help others see our vision for what a fantastic location this is," says Michael. He envisions photographers, artists and even construction companies establishing offices or studios in the building.
"I know some people want to be in the city, but for those who prefer a calm, quiet quaint setting, this is just ideal." The couple hopes to host events here, too - a wedding and several other events have already taken place on the 15 acres of land that surround the mill, which is bordered by the First Broad River.
"I would love to have an event planner set up an office here and manage all of the different groups that might want to use the facility," says Michael.
In addition to the tranquil setting along the riverfront, the mill itself offers quite a lot of area history. The first building on the site, a wooden structure, was built in 1847 - the oldest cotton mill in Cleveland County. The property has changed hands 20 times in 150 years. In 1874 the first brick structure was built on the location, and it was first named Double Shoals Cotton Mill at that time. It continued to operate as a cotton mill until 1970. Since then the building has been used for storage and a junk shop - when it wasn't sitting vacant. The old mill even served as a furniture factory for the Chi Chi's restaurant chain in the 1980s, Michael says.
The Fauchers put the building's history in the spotlight during this year's Halloween season by offering ghost tours of the mill.
"It was 75 percent factually based," Michael says, explaining that the tours were patterned after the ghost walks offered in cities such as Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. "There weren't any skeletons jumping out or anything like that. We just turned the lights off and provided a narrated walk through the building."
The (true) story of a mill worker who killed a co-worker with a knife after an argument was part of the narration that added to the spooky atmosphere of the mill.
But the spooky stories don't bother the Faucher family as they continue to settle into the new-to-them - yet still very old - location of the mill.
"Buying this space keeps us together as a family," Michael says. "I'll be downstairs working on cars, and Angie will be upstairs teaching a class, and our kids can be working on schoolwork here. It's just a wonderful place."
For more information about Double Shoals Cotton Mill, visit the web site at doubleshoalsmill.com or find it on Facebook by searching for "Double Shoals Cotton Mill."

By April Hoyle Shauf

Special to Shelby Shopper & Info