The historic Thomas Hammersly home, located at 107 North Walnut Street in Milford, has been transformed into Overgrown, a unique, eclectic plant store owned by Dalton Carter and Gage Ferriera. The two men have been friends since middle school and now call themselves “Aspiring Plant Experts.”
“Gage and I grew up here in Milford, we love Milford,” Carter said. “We worked at fondue and grew close to Zack and Marissa [King] and they own property all up and down the street, including this one. We just kind of tossed around ideas for a business we wanted to start, including a gym, but the startup costs were so high.”
Carter, who earned a degree in entrepreneurship, and Ferriera, who earned a degree in marketing, both dabbled in plants with Ferriera finding planting and growing an enjoyable hobby. The more the two discussed their hopes and dreams, the more it became apparent that a plant store was the right answer and the historic home with its sunroom-type front would be the best location.
“Once we made the decision, we started buying plants, caring for them and we found we were getting really good at it,” Carter said. “We did a soft opening a few weeks ago and the interest was so big, we had to restock quickly for our grand opening.”
Overgrown held a ribbon cutting on Saturday, April 19, welcoming Mayor Todd Culotta to the store for the first time.
“We are so excited to have a store like this in Milford because there is nothing else like it here,” Culotta said. “They are going to outgrow this space fast because people are going to flock here for plants that look this good.”
Carter stated that he and Ferreira felt that the plant store would be the perfect accompaniment to other unique businesses downtown, including Shock Vinyl, a vintage vinyl record store, Crafty Reader, a bookstore that features items made by local artisans both located in Penny Square.
“Milford in general is just a great opportunity,” Carter said. “I live in Dover now and wish I could move back because there is just not the downtown atmosphere there that there is in Milford.”
The location of the new plant shop is in a home purchased by Thomas Hammersly in 1840. Hammersly operated a drugstore out of the building while also serving as a cashier at the Smyrna Bank. After his death, the home passed to his son Thomas who lived there until his death. The Collins family owned the building for several years and the building was labeled “The Collins Building” for decades.
Dr. John Annand purchased the property, practicing medicine from the building while living in another part of the structure. Moore & Rutt Law Offices were located there along with Sombar Accounting for many years.
Overgrown is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 AM until 6 PM.
