My name is Ken Miller. My lovely wife, Molly, and I opened the Ivy Cottage
in March of 2000 as a gift shop with the intentions of trying to operate it on a part time basis until we could retire. Molly
is a nurse and I have traveled all over the country for the past 12 years in my work and was always bringing "stuff" home
that was unique to different areas of the country. So we started with jams, jellies, porcelin eggs, etc.
The first half of 2002 was tough. We lost both of our mothers to illness
within 6 weeks. Needless to say, our little store was low on the priority list at this point. In November, we started doing
custom items with photos such as clocks, mousepads, buttons, and magnets. This was just in time for Christmas.
In 2005, we had a small fire that caused a lot of smoke damage. We were
closed for about 3 months while the place was being cleaned and refurbished. We realized at this point that after 5 years,
the biggest problem with trying to operate a business on a part time basis was being open consistently. People would ask us
when we were open and our only response could be whenever a car is there!
Well, when gas hit $4 a gallon in May of 2008, I decided to stop traveling. In October, we opened
up on a full time basis now offering Elgin Sausage Wraps. You can see our full menu on the Sausage Wraps page.
It's just hard to beat Elgin sausage!
Thanks for dropping by..........Ken
