Brighton couple restoring 157-year-old house with unique business plan

BRIGHTON, Mich. (FOX 2) - A historic home in Brighton is taking on a new purpose - to serve as a sanctuary for creativity and healing in the city. 

The place at 142 Brighton Lake Road was built in 1862, and ever since Anna and her husband, Dan, bought it in 2016, they've uncovered many treasures from the past. Some even from inside the walls.

"We actually found an old Pepsi bottle from the Messer-Schidts family and it had an old newspaper article, and I can't remember the time frame, but they had put a newspaper article and then they also had a little note that listed everyone in their family," Anna Oginsky tells us. 

There is a ton of history in the 157-year-old house.

"The first owner of this house was someone named P. Cunningham and Dan was able to trace that back to a Civil War soldier, who fought in Gettysburg with the name Phillip Cunningham," Anna says.

After Mr. Cunningham, those who lived in the house include the Lyon family (yes, of South Lyon fame) and the Bandcows, where Ricky Bandcow was a previous mayor of Brighton.

"There's a history here and you can feel it when you walk in, and just to imagine what happened when it was built, or the wood, where it came from," Anna says.

The Oginskys are transforming the old house, returning it to its 1920s look and more than doubling its size by adding a new carriage house to the property. But it's what they plan to use the house for, that makes it really special.

"A place where people can do things that fill up their soul. I think of it kind of as a gym, but for soul fitness," Anna says. 

A creative incubator for things like photography, Reiki and reflexology.

"Kind of like the Costco of health and wellness where you can do everything at once and not have to go from here to here to here. So I imagined, like if you could do a therapeutic art project and then take a walk to the creek; that just is very good for your soul."

The plan is to have the project complete by February 2020, with enough room for about a dozen healing artists. They are calling it Brighton Light House, a beacon of light for the community. Anna plans to run her own healing arts business, Heart Connected, out of the building as well. 

You can learn more at www.brightonlighthouse.com.