Graves Lumber Yard was established in 1966 by Ernest Graves (my grandfather). The first location was on the site of Oxford Lumber. A yard founded by my maternal grandfather in the 1940’s. In 1967 Oxford High School was sold at auction. By this time dad (Pete Graves) had decided to join granddad in the business. 

In the beginning our customer base was the local farming community. We sold lumber and built about anything a farmer needed. During this period we did not have a mill because there were several well established mills in the county and we had a nitch all to ourselves. I went to college and worked for Delta Airlines for several years but knew I wanted to come back to the business. 

In the mid 90’s everything came together and I got married quit my job and came back home. At about this time portable band mills were becoming available. There were no sawmills left so we decided to fill the need. Little did we know how much it would change the business? Today our primary operation involves sawmill services and finish millwork. I buy logs and saw for my inventory as well as custom saw other people’s logs.

The sawmill allows me to saw specialty items that large production mill don’t want to fool with. One of the more interesting orders was for the meditation building in the Japanese garden in Georgetown. I had to take 14 foot logs and cut them into equilateral triangles. Orders like that keep things interesting. In the finish millwork dept I make custom flooring 6 inches and wider. I also make custom trim, things that are not manufactured today.