Located on the banks of the Saline River, Wellers is cradled in an era that we will never see again. On the National Historic Register, this timeless property provides us a truly memorable location for our wedding.

Imagine the excitement when Henry Ford came to the small rural village of Saline to restore the dilapidated Schuyler flour mill in 1935. People thought he had totally lost his mind!!

But, like all entrepreneurs, Ford had his own unique vision: to merge urban factories with rural farming through a little-known and unused crop, the soybean. To implement his wild idea, he paid over 700 farmers in the Saline area to grow soybeans. The farmers then trucked their crops here to be refined into soybean oil for the production of plastics and paints for auto manufacturing.

This simple idea forever changed the face of industry and farming. In fact, soybeans are once again on the front burner as a possible source and solution for our energy problems. Ford was drawn here because of its location on a river.

He produced electricity by diverting the river to create a dam-millpond, and installed a waterwheel. Engineers still marvel at the beauty of Ford's futuristic dream and he is known throughout the industrial world for his innovative use of organic products in industry.

Towns grew as service areas to agricultural hinterlands and were usually located at the junction of the travel route or along a river where water power was plentiful for operating the saw and grist mills needed by the settlers. Several mills remain at these historic junctions along the route including the Atlas Mill in Clinton and the Pears Mill in Buchanan. The most prominent is the Schuyler Mill built in 1843 on the fall of the Saline River, in the then Village of Barnegat (now known as Saline). In a later period of the road's history, Henry Ford purchased the mill in 1935. Along with a dam to provide water power and several new buildings, Ford made major renovations to the mill. The mill was the centerpiece for his village industry located in Saline. The buildings and structures along both sides of the highway are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When Carl & Iris Weller purchased this property in 1966, the buildings & property were in total disrepair. But the Ford remnants unearthed in the buildings, the 10-acre setting and the underlying natural beauty of the buildings, sparked a flame that still burns bright in the today. With their 56 years of efforts resurrected this mesmerizing page in history. Their story is a testament to American hard work and ingenuity.