Empire resident Corey Smith has been working as the general manager at The Mill in Glen Arbor since he relocated to Leelanau County in 2022 for the job.
Since serving in the manager role, Smith has not only been able to see the historic northern Michigan landmark transform through its many renovation stages, but he’s also been there to coordinate and celebrate its long awaited reopening and how its come to be the multi-use destination that it is today. With his extensive hospitality experience, Smith has been able to put his own personal imprint on the project.
“In my day to day, I get to be the happy host. Much of my work really entails daily oversight of the operations, but I also have the honor of showing off all the work that was put forth to create The Mill experience,” Smith said. “Moving a lot of this stuff, you uncover hidden paintings and parchments and different artifacts that were not so obvious… We preserved a lot of that and created this timeline wall and framed some of them. So that was super exciting discovering some of these things.”
The primary objective at The Mill has always been to be an accessible property for everyone, Smith said, so they like to have different ways for guests to experience the place and its offerings all year-round. Booking a wedding at the property is one of the more intimate ways to do that, but Smith said they aim to only have a few every year in order to keep it accessible for those that just want to stop by to look, grab a coffee at the cafe, or sit down for a meal.
“Sharing moments with merging families is so joyful and to be able to offer those is really great, but to be able to offer only a handful of those a year because we want to retain the status of the local mainstay, too,” he said. “That balance of being able to offer both is truly a big success to me. We want to make sure that this place that has been such a historic property in Leelanau County for so long remains a local mainstay and people can visit it on a day-to-day basis yearround.”
In 2025, Smith said The Mill is going to focus on offering more consistent hours and will continue to bring in and utilize seasonal produce from local farms for their menus as they become available. The riverside cafe is open everyday year-round, while the restaurant “Supper” is open five days a week from Friday to Tuesday.
May marks the third year of Smith living in the region. Smith grew up in South Haven, a similar lakeside vacation town downstate, and said he never thought he’d end up living in the Leelanau area. He and his family previously visited the county in 1998 though, when Smith said he learned how to ski as a child at the Homestead, but they never returned after, noting the many similar amenities to his hometown.
After graduating from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with a degree in political science, he moved to New York for work. For almost a decade, Smith worked in the hospitality industry there, but he ultimately felt a strong desire to change his environment going into a new decade.
“There are some skills that any student can obtain during that college experience that wholly support my drive of success post college,” Smith said, recalling his days in college. “So studying political science is really a specialization of communication, cultural socialization, and philosophy, which kind of really translates well to understanding how people communicate and conduct with one another… it did truly further understand the patterns for me of how people move through this world, which in hospitality in my dayto- day work, is truly invaluable.”
Coming from working at a small inn in New York to focusing on construction and renovation work as a general manager at The Mill was something Smith said he wasn’t expecting, but ultimately ended up being very rewarding. Through social connections, Smith said he was able to connect with Fernhaus Hospitality Group co-founder and creative director Kelsey Duda, who brought him on board for the revitalization of the old grist mill.
Smith lived in one of the buildings on The Mill property until October of last year, when he and his partner finally found a home in Empire.
“I had already made up in my mind that I wanted the county experience, the slower pace of life and you really get to know the people around you a little bit better and a little bit faster,” he said. “So coming back and sharing that small town feel here is super cool. Time has gone by so fast, but it feels like I’ve been here for a decade already. This place feels like home so quickly. I haven’t lived at work since 2017, so it’s a wild phenomenon for me to actually have my own home base and some separation.”
Besides his duties of managing the guest experience, the cafe and restaurant, membership program, and the three suite guest house, Smith also acts as the supervisor to the Fernhaus Traverse City location and outpost. Smith’s twin brother, who joined the Fernhaus team and moved to the area last year, manages the business operations in Traverse City for the hospitality group.
“We work really well together and share a lot of common ground in terms of the guest experience, so it’s very effortless,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily written in the stars for us to be doing this here in Michigan again, but it’s been really fun for us and we like working together again.”
Living and working in Leelanau has been invaluable in many ways to Smith. With easy access to outdoor recreational activities in any season like hiking on trails or visiting scenic beaches, Smith said it’s all new for him and something that he appreciates so much.
“It’s been so wonderful and the county just continues to provide me access to new things and people. It’s changing and growing, but it’s also still very much true to its origin, and I think it’s such a beautiful and exciting place to be,” he said. “What I get out of being here is truly dedicating myself to a community of people. I’m building relationships with people that’s going to last the rest of my life.”
