Owners of the building, brothers Andy and Aaron Rudd, also own the site of the current Bird’ s Nest Café, which was outgrowing its space, and asked the Millers to consider relocating to the Main Street location, Tyra said.
Lance said the Rudds are paying for structural repairs and those required for permitting, while the Millers are paying for kitchen remodeling and creative aspects of the renovation. Infrastructure improvements include the floor, electrical and plumbing systems.
Some surprises were found in renovation, including a main floor beam which was rotted to the extent that
Lance Miller shows one of the rotted beams. photo by Bob Gustin
it was essentially hollow, and various places in the floor which were unsafe. All floor joists will be replaced, and oak hardwood flooring will be installed on the main level.
“ The Rudds care deeply about the building’ s history and the town,” Lance said.“ They are stewards of the building and are doing it right. A lot of thought and care is being put into every detail.”
“ The building has been in the family for close to 100 years, with many different uses over that period of time,” Andy Rudd said.“ Being one of the oldest commercial buildings in Nashville, we feel it’ s important to connect and maintain the history of the building while enabling it to be viable as an important commercial building today and into the future.
“ We expect the renovations will enable the building to thrive over the next decades.”
“ It’ s been like an archeological dig,” Lance said of the renovation process.“ We’ ve found old liquor bottles someone stashed in the ceiling.” Old coins were found, along with modern cell phones and earbuds which slipped through cracks in the floor.
Andy Rudd said items found during the renovation process“ serve as a reminder of the previous eras of the building.
“ Our intention is to share as many of these items with the community as possible through displaying them in the restaurant. Anything remaining, we may see if there is interest from the historical society, that will come sometime after the building is renovated and open for business.”
Cameron Stone of Columbus, general contractor for the renovation, estimated that 95 percent of the floor joists had rot, dry rot and termite damage.
“ No one realized the extent of the damage,” he said, and the old flooring had been patched with plywood, oil can lids, and metal pieces.
Stone said he found at least four layers of wallpaper, and six different ceiling applications. The new restaurant will have exposed and painted ceiling beams. People always ask him if the original building had tin panels on the ceiling. No, he says, it had wallpaper.
Most of the current Bird’ s Nest staff will transfer to the Main Street location when it opens, and some additional staff will probably be hired at both locations.
The Millers say they hope to attract both locals and tourists to the new restaurant.
No business in Nashville can get successfully through the winter without local customers, Tyra said.
Andy Rudd said renovating the second floor, which has been closed to the public for years, is in long term plans.
“ It’ s a beautiful space we want to be able to share. Being a second floor adds some additional
Continued on 18 May / June 2026 Our Brown County 17