~ story and photos by Ryan Stacy
There’ s a lot of energy emanating from Cox Creek Mill, and only a part of it comes from the fourteen-foot water wheel there that Brad Cox fabricated himself. For Brad and his wife Stephanie, who own and run their artisan ironworking business out of the mill house, big ambitions are a way of life— and the energy they put into realizing them could power the entire county.
When I arrive at the Mill, deep in the woods just off Salt Creek Road, Brad’ s in full multitasking mode. He’ s been with a video documentary team all day, showing them his welded works of art on the property and around Nashville. He’ s also in the process of packing up for the Talbot Street Fair that weekend in Indianapolis, where he’ ll show his work— as he does several times a year— across the country. Brad pauses for a few of my questions, disappears to tend to his next task, then circles back to me. This is normal, Stephanie tells me.“ None of us likes to stay still,” she says with a laugh.“ We all keep busy all the time. Our TV’ s never on.”
The couple followed their dream to Brown County from Northwest Indiana nearly twenty years ago, when Brad realized his job as an industrial welding foreman was taking him away from his family.“ I had two boys and a wife, and I’ m traveling for days at a time, missing their ball games, missing family time, and I would just get a knot in my stomach every time I had to leave home,” he says. Having spent many summers in Brown County since his childhood— his extended family owned property and businesses here— Brad knew just the setting for a major life change.
“ Once I’ d get off the highway and get over the hill into Brown County, I wouldn’ t even think about what was in that rear-view mirror,” he says.“ I’ ve
16 Our Brown County • July / August 2018
Cox Creek Mill just off Salt Creek Road, near Nashville. Artisan and entrepreneur Brad Cox.