Lexington, KY, June 12--About a decade ago, George Gatewood watched as bulldozers ripped through the 200-year-old Mount Sterling house where he grew up.
"That broke my heart," he said. The home was torn down to make way for an industrial park. "It was such a waste."
Now Gatewood has found his own way to preserve history, one piece of wood at a time.
He scouts the countryside of Kentucky and surrounding states looking for dilapidated barns, farmhouses and warehouses destined for demolition. He buys the right to dismantle them, then sells the wood.
Gatewood's business, Longwood Antique Flooring, stands to triple its revenues in the next 18 months as demand for his product - antique wood, some from now-extinct trees, taken carefully from old homes, barns and warehouses - increases nationwide.
The 32-year-old, who built his first tree house out of wood from an old barn on the family farm, got his start working with his father to refinish the walls in his family's basement.
His father served as a combination business partner and mentor as he started his business.
"I fell in love with it," he said. "It's neat how an old, 100-year-old piece of wood in some old, weathered barn that has sheltered cows and horses and has become an eyesore can come alive again once it's sanded and stained."
Gatewood recognized that passion had the potential to make a business when he saw advertisements for companies looking for antique wood for flooring.
"I figured that was something I could do," he said. He bought a planer and then "learned how to do tongue and groove and started selling the lumber."
That was in 1996.
Quickly, he discovered Lexington was a good place to start such a business.
"We have a lot of farms and old barns," he said. "Then we have a lot of people who are willing to pay for the wood."
Gatewood was soon grossing about $300,000 a year selling and installing flooring.
These days, Gatewood said, demand for heart pine and poplar has skyrocketed. American chestnut and heart pine are the hardest to find, he said.
Gatewood, who bought his father out of the business, has a plan to triple his business revenues in the next two years.
Among the changes: The business will now contract with other companies to install and refurbish wood and will buy wood in bulk from demolition companies.
In addition, Gatewood will work to market his company in the West, primarily in California and Nevada, by developing a network of salespeople nationwide.
"There is a big demand for rare wood in the West, where they're putting up a lot of resorts and hotels and such," he said.
