Tables with Tales to Tell
Tables have always been at the heart of the Mercantile 37 building, which sits surrounded by farmland on Highway 37 near Atlanta, Indiana. When it was known as Scotty’s Inn in the 1940s, weary individuals trekking between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis appreciated the chance to share a table with other travelers, grab a bite of truck stop fare and sip coffee. In the ’70s through the ’90s, after most traffic was diverted to Interstate 69, it became Wheelers Inn and it was the locals who filled the tables as a favorite place to grab a burger and hang out after the game.
Today, after years of sitting vacant, Mercantile 37 not only houses the reinvented Wheelers Café and Market but is also a showroom featuring vintage and handcrafted décor items from over 50 local makers. Part of the endeavor involves producing custom lighting, mantles and furniture, but a large focus is bespoke tables constructed from reclaimed wood. Each table is designed to meet the specifications for the families of the individuals who commission them. Owned by Nick Roudebush along with his wife, Emma, and his parents, it is a place rich in his family’s history.
“Emma’s great-great-uncle Cecil Scott built the place in 1940 as Scotty’s Inn,” says Roudebush. “She grew up in the house next door and her family still farms all around the property. The building was vacant from 1999 to 2017, when we purchased it. The community holds a special place in its heart for the building.
Wheelers is operated by our family friends Neal and Angie Fine. We are all one big family here.”
Top: Nick Roudebush and his father J.R. Roudebush. The other photos show some of the beautiful creations both sold at the store and created by hand.
RECLAIMING WOOD
Trained as a potter with a Master of Fine Arts degree in ceramics, Roudebush has always held an interest in the connection of food preparation, serving and the art of sharing a meal with others. Designing tables is a perfect complement to the pottery he fashions. His tables honor the past life of previously used wood by becoming pieces with new purpose.
“We get our materials from a variety of sources— anywhere from local barns to inner-city Detroit salvage. Depending on the table, we are either telling a modern Indiana farmhouse story or something like a modern industrial story,” says Roudebush. “We also love to work with materials that have personal meaning for clients. We have used lumber cut from a client’s property, milled and dried, and have also used recycled materials from families’ barns or homes.”
The beautiful yet functional tables can be used with different seating options. Some have reproduced industrial bases with working cranks that adjust the height of the table as high as bar level. The tops are protected with seven coats of translucent finish so remnants of the original paint and usage history shine through.
“What I am most drawn to are the stories these materials tell through marks left on their surfaces. Not only are the materials beautiful and interesting to look at, but there also exists a richness in reclaimed materials that we can’t find in something new,” says Roudebush. “This richness becomes a way to connect to and interact with the product and the people we are using it with—a kind of bridge for human interaction.”
Mercantile 37 sees the importance of details and the story behind what they create.
REINFORCING LOVE
For Andrea Westphal, owning a table built by Roudebush was the result of a desire to entertain multiple guests comfortably. As the mom of a toddler, she wanted a space for family meals but also the ability to accommodate friends on the spur of a moment. She became aware that Mercantile 37 produced custom tables after admiring the ones she saw in Wheelers Café.
“It fit the bill of what I was looking for. We live in a throwaway society, and I wanted something that would last and had a history behind it. And, I never realized how intimate eating can be until becoming a mom and why having a table is so important,” says Westphal. “During our family meals we talk about our days and the conversations we have reinforce our love for one another.”
Roudebush agrees: “Sharing a meal at a table is a sacred act between family and friends where stories are shared and memories are created. Reclaimed materials seem to reinforce this idea, causing us to slow down and become more aware of what we are doing and who we are doing it with.”
MERCANTILE 37
25625 IN-37
Atlanta
765.734.1683
Mercantile37.com
