Hooked on the notion of giving the old timbers new life, Drake later went on to found Mountain Lumber, a Charlottesville-based company that sources reclaimed hardwoods for use in residential and commercial construction, and sells reclaimed architectural elements such as moldings, millwork and beams. Today, Drake says, those chestnut timbers could easily fetch close to $10 a foot on the market.
That sort of markup has turned this licensed pilot and former equestrian into an antique-timber go-to guy. Drake’s clients include high-profile architecture firms such as Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Polshek Partnership Architects, and Beyer Blinder Belle, as well as notable historical institutions such as Mount Vernon, Monticello, Blair House and Montpelier when they undertake restoration or preservation projects. Throw in a residential client roster that features a handful of celebrities, said to include George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, among others, and it’s no surprise that the curious fellow who, on a lark, helped that friend haul a load of chestnut has grown his hobby into an $8 million enterprise.
The peripatetic businessman spends much of his time stalking his product, both here and abroad. Drake says that he has inspected old railroad cars in Russia, Guinness beer vats in Ireland, and collapsing barns in Appalachia. To suss out the quality of the timbers, he often arrives on the scene at an old mill, factory, barn, dock or pier just hours or days before the wrecking ball is to be lowered, and when the condition of the timber is up to snuff—not coated in creosote or lead-based paint, rotted through with water damage or riddled with nails—he agrees to a price and saves the wood. “Sometimes it takes a couple of years before we take possession,” he says, adding that the ownership of buildings scheduled for demolition may change hands several times in the course of a development project as developers, contractors, city planners and preservationists wrangle over terms. “But there aren’t many companies like us that can take two or three million feet at a time.” Shortly after the deal is struck, the cargo is transported to his plant in Ruckersville. There, in a compound of open-air warehouses, beams and boards are subjected to nail-pulling by hand, then cleaned, dried and finished before being marketed for sale.
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