Mac and J.C. Casale of Gwynn’s Island have purchased the historic old Cow Creek Mill from former owner Tommy DuBose and are planning to develop the site as the Old Mill Tavern.
Co-owners of Hole in the Wall Waterfront Grill on Gwynn’s Island, Prime Mediterranean in Topping, and Perrindise Marina and Club in Gloucester, the Casales have spent years designing and building restaurant properties for clients, said Mac Casale. After they moved to Mathews in 2009, they noticed the old mill, located on Route 14 at Cow Creek in Gloucester, and “wondered what was going to happen to it.”
“We recently saw the sign go up and started negotiations,” he said. “It was perfect timing.”
The couple developed a conceptual drawing for the restaurant that’s intended to incorporate as much of the old mill as possible, said Casale. Although weather has damaged some of the more recent work on the structure, he said, the chimney and flooring and the original brick walls, some of which could be from the 1700s, al...