Our Story
190 years of standing. Still going.
The Blum Arrival
Phillip Petrus Blum crosses the Atlantic from Bavaria and settles in Bridgewater Township, Michigan — then a patchwork of cleared fields and dense forest at the edge of the frontier.
He pulls fieldstone from these very grounds and builds a farmhouse that was meant to last. It did. The 1832 stone house still stands on the property today, nearly two centuries after his hands laid the foundation.
What Phillip built was more than shelter. He built a legacy property — one that would change hands, change purpose, and survive everything the next 190 years could throw at it.
The Hoffa Connection
In the 1960s, the property is acquired by the personal attorney of Jimmy Hoffa — one of the most powerful and controversial figures in American labor history.
He doesn't farm it. He transforms it. The estate becomes a private horse-racing compound: a half-mile training track carved from the acreage, 40+ racehorses in a purpose-built barn, and a swimming pool constructed specifically for the horses — a rehabilitation and conditioning tool that was ahead of its time.
This is when the word 'estate' stops being a metaphor and starts being accurate. Not a farm. Not a homestead. A private compound. 43 acres of controlled, intentional, unapologetically ambitious land use.
The barn that the Hoffa attorney built — with its soaring timber beams and wide horse stalls — would stand for decades. It would later host Michigan's most storied wedding celebrations. And then it would burn.
No other Michigan wedding venue carries this chapter in its history.
The PR Hook — No Other Michigan Wedding Venue Has This Story
The Buter Era
The Buter family purchases the property and continues what the Hoffa attorney started. The horse tradition deepens — harness racing becomes the estate's identity through the 1980s, 1990s, and into the 2000s.
Champion trotters and pacers are trained on the same half-mile track. The grounds carry the weight of competition, care, and decades of a family's life.
By the time ownership changes again in 2014, the estate has been home to horses and their handlers for over 50 years. The track is still visible. The legacy is embedded in the land.
The Barbus Arrive
George and Mirela Barbu purchase the property — 43 acres, the original stone house, the horse barn, the track, the willows, the pond. All of it.
Their daughter Rachel walks the barn on one of the first visits. She takes in the timber beams, the light falling through the doors, the scale of the space. She announces, without ceremony, that she will be married here.
It is not a business plan. It is a daughter's intuition. And it will become the seed of everything that follows.
The First Wedding
Rachel keeps her word.
In 2019, the first wedding is celebrated on the estate — her own. The barn that Jimmy Hoffa's attorney built holds the first reception. The pond reflects the lights. The willows frame the photographs.
Historic Blum Barn opens to other couples. What started as a daughter's promise becomes a wedding venue with a story no one else can claim.
The Fire
In January 2026, fire destroys the original event barn.
The 1832 stone house survives. The family's commitment to the couples who had trusted them with their wedding dates — some booked years out — survives too.
"The fire is one chapter in 190 years of history. This property has survived everything. So have the marriages we have helped create."
Mirela calls every booked couple herself. No date is abandoned.
The Stables Opens
Four months. Through the winter. Faster than anyone thought was possible.
The Stables opens in May 2026 — a purpose-built indoor/outdoor wedding venue on the same 43-acre property, designed from the ground up for the celebration it was built to host.
Fully climate controlled. Pond views. Wide doors that open to the grounds. A built-in indoor ceremony space for when the weather doesn't cooperate.
The first post-fire wedding is celebrated. The estate is back.
The Chapel
The original barn footprint will be restored as a modern indoor chapel — a dedicated ceremony space alongside The Stables.
Two venues. One legendary estate. The place where Phillip Blum's stone house still stands, where champion horses trained, where Rachel got married, where a fire changed nothing.
A place this storied deserves a wedding worth remembering.
"The fire is one chapter in 190 years of history. This property has survived everything. So have the marriages we have helped create."
A place this storied deserves a wedding worth remembering.