NORTH EAST, Md. — Little remained of ‘Unwined on the Water’ in Elkton after the overnight fire in early November leaving Owner John Bragg to pick up the pieces.
“My heart sunk.I can’t explain it,” recalled Bragg, “To pull around the corner and see what you’ve created and have built and have invested in for five, six, seven years just literally going up in smoke was just… it was just tragic.It was devastating.”
Devastating for Bragg’s more than two dozen staff members as well.
Owner of 'Unwined on the Water' opens in new location
“A lot of the people that we work with have kids and like putting Thanksgiving meal on the table.Stuff like that.It was worrying me,” said Megan Gollehon, the restaurant’s operations manager, but if Gollehon had learned anything working her way up at the restaurant over the last five years, it was that Bragg wouldn’t give up on himself or on his employees.
“We knew that in the meantime, that we’d be taken care of any of us were really to be in a tough spot,” she added.
Within a week of the fire, as the community began to rally around them, Bragg heard from the owners of the former Chesapeake Bay Golf Club property just south of the town of North East.
“We were as surprised as anyone,” said Bragg, “I got home.I had an email waiting for me from a gentleman who owned this location and with the offer of leasing and opportunity to purchase in the future as long as we want to be here, and it just… it warmed my heart.”
On Friday, a soft opening features a new menu introducing a host of new signature items that border fine dining a bit more that the upscale pub grub of the past.
While the new restaurant is opening with a new name, White Oak Manor, there are still plans to rebuild the old one.
“That could be a location that we run in partnership with this location,” said Bragg, “so we have met with the town, we’re seeking expedition of the permits so that we can get started over there and we hope to have something under roof and be able to operate over there this summer.”
