History of the establishment:

In 1953 Dorothy Stratton, a nurse from Madison, was driving through Nelsonville and stopped for lunch at a small diner. Much like Rue, she was at a place in her career where the next step was an entrepreneurial one. She headed back to her husband in Madison to let him know she would be starting her own nursing home in Central Wisconsin. After 25 years of serving the elderly, the Nelsonville Rest Home closed.

During the 80’s The Wolf Pack biker gang took over the estate. The house took a dark turn. For the next couple years the house was known for being a place to get high and get laid. Men in leather vest with fur tails hanging from their belts would stand out in the parking lot tossing bones in the yard. Hippies tell stories of stealing racist paraphernalia from the yard and smashing it out car doors. When the feds raided the complex, the owner fled down the fire escape supposedly making it free to Florida. Words of advice, you don’t move to a small village to lay low.

After the gang left, the house became known as a place where folks could live for cheap. Many were men coming out of relationships or passing through for various jobs in the area. The house started to really fall apart and the slumlord owner sold the place to a fellow resident, posted to be torn down in 2020.

Rue and Zay were getting pushed out of Portland, Oregon by high prices and shifting economics. Debating between Austin, Mexico or a bus to travel and live, they settled on Central Wisconsin. The couple leapt with courage into a new community, business adventure and partnership. For the first year these two have torn down walls, refinished floors and restructured this historical building into a communal center for travelers and artists.