THE BENNETTS

Meet the Bennetts. Jaron, Michelle, Caden, and Addison. Jaron and Michelle met in high school and started dating in 2009. After college, they got married and moved to Florida where Jaron pursued his career in the construction industry, but the dream of one day running a business of their own was always present in their minds. After almost a decade away from family, the draw to come back closer to home was stronger than ever before. In the spring of 2024, their sights were set on starting a sawmill business serving clientele in Huntsville, AL and the surrounding communities. During their search for property to start the sawmill business, they happened upon a custom cabinet shop for sale in Woodville, Alabama. While the cabinet shop came with much of the equipment they needed for the sawmill business, they decided they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work in such a complex and precise field as cabinet making is. It fit their niche well as Jaron had spent the last decade in a complex vein of the construction industry building additions and renovations on active healthcare facilities. Instead of proceeding with the sawmill business, they decided to put that on hold and focus their efforts solely on custom cabinetry, with plans to expand and offer sawmill services and other custom wood products in the future.

“But what about the old man and the apples?” We haven’t forgotten that. It all started back in 2009 with an old man, a bucket full of apples, and a cider mill. Right after they started dating, Jaron and Michelle loved making apple cider with Jaron’s grandfather from the apples that grew behind Jaron’s house. The cider mill was left to them when Jaron’s grandfather died, and this first mill was the inspiration behind the name Applewood Mills. Beyond just offering custom cabinetry, their dream is to one day have a small shop that showcases custom built items for sale from the sawmill, as well as a selection of homemade apple butter, apple pie, and of course apple cider made on that same old cider mill from all those years ago.