When people think of sawmills, they often imagine large corporations rapidly shredding hundreds of trees. Woodland Hardwoods, a sustainable sawmill at Rocheport, is chopping away at these assumptions.
Woodland Hardwoods offers custom wood slabs for craftspeople who create their own furniture. The small family-owned business harvests wood from trees that already need to be removed from properties, such as diseased trees, and also uses other reclaimed wood for sawmilling wood slabs and dimensional lumber.
“The point of the reclaimed wood is to be able to tell its story,” says Kassidy Frommann, marketing director and daughter of the owner, Scott Jones. [Scott is also the father of Missouri Life’s associate editor Sydney Jones.] “We are taking something that people would discard and don’t know how to turn it into something beautiful, but we have all the tools, vision, and eye to be able to get it there.”
Besides its sawmilling services, the business also offers services for vacuum kiln drying, sanding, flattening, and surfacing, as well as custom millwork and custom-made live edge furniture that keeps the original edges of the tree bark exposed. The business has made it its mission to encourage a resurgence in the art of woodworking.
“You’re going to be able to pick the wood out from the starting point, and you’re going to be along with us on the journey,” Kassidy says. “We want to work with people who are in the transition, like if they are a woodworker who wants to do something professional. They can just drop it off and come back, but if they want to be a part of that process, they can come in and be alongside us. We want to be able to educate.”
This unique “tree to table” business model grew out of Scott’s 30 years of experience as a woodworker who made custom furniture. When he used to make live edge tables, epoxy tables, bar tops, and other wood products, he struggled to source the wood locally.
“It was really hard to come up with the product, and it was really expensive when we did find it,” says Krista Jones, Scott’s wife and community engagement director for the business. “This was a way to bring everyone together in the wood community and have a place to go to get what they need.”
The family business is made up of Scott, Krista, Kassidy, and Kevin, Kassidy’s husband, who works as a sawyer for the business.
“I love watching each person shine in their own gifts and strengths that they have been given,” Krista says. Together, they have transformed Scott’s dream into a reality by combining each of their backgrounds to create a business.
Kassidy was a former cinematographer and digital relations manager; Krista, a specialist in business development and community engagement; and Kevin, a carpenter.
“We are an entrepreneurial family,” Kassidy says. “We really enjoy building and finding solutions and crafting things. So being able to build this has oddly felt very natural.”
Together, the family has made it their goal to offer what they themselves sought after for years: a business aimed at helping local wood artisans.
This article originally appeared in the June 2025 edition of Missouri Life.
