KINSMAN, Ohio - The Peter Allen Inn in Kinsman is a nearly 200-year-old building, but there is a distinct feeling that this is just the beginning. 

Last month, the facility hosted its first wedding and also earned the Mahoning Valley Historical Society's award for commercial revitalization.

Kinsman is a small town with a big history, one that Dick and Rhonda Thompson fell in love with.

"When Rhonda and I were first married, we always dreamed of moving to Kinsman, Ohio," said Dick Thompson. "The more we learned of Kinsman, it is rich in history of its own."

They've restored several properties in town, so when the Peter Allen house went up for sale in 2008 they jumped on it.

"The decision to restore the property was simple. The decision on what to do with it was most difficult," said Thompson.

It took three years and 25 contractors to complete, but about a year and a half ago the Peter Allen Inn and Event Center officially opened. It's a little bigger now, with a new purpose, but the same glory from almost 200 years ago.

"We did create private baths, which is the only change from 1821," said Thompson.

The house carries the legacy of Kinsman's first doctor and his grandson, Dudley Peter Allen, one of the founders of what is now University Hospital in Cleveland. 

Every space in the house has unique woodwork and most were catalogued in the Library of Congress, which helped in the renovation.

The parlor was the one exception, because Dudley Peter took that moulding for himself.

"He remembers this moulding in this room and comes down and makes a deal with the Plant family and buys the moulding and this wonderful mantle and puts it in his billiard room," said Thompson. "He now builds a second home, takes the moulding out of his first home, put it in the same setting, in a billiard room."

In the 1950s, that traveling moulding came back home thanks to the Western Reserve Historical Society. So you have the history very much intact, but also a property very much focused on what's next.

You can already see the evolution of the place. They've added a lot more outdoor space. The Inn hosted its first wedding a week ago and the plans for the future are even bigger.

"We had a goal that, depending on where you were on the property, you could gain a different experience," said events manager Aundrea Cika. "Within the grand canopy we have tried to emulate the house. When you walk through it you'll see that the porch on the front of the house is recreated within the grand canopy."

Thompson already has his eyes on his next restoration project; a local stone cottage taken apart almost 20 years ago and currently sitting on his farm ready to be put back together at the Peter Allen Inn later this year. 

It's the Thompson family's way of continuing this process of taking everything that made Kinsman great and giving it a new life.

"We're putting Kinsman on the map. It's always been there, it's just people have overlooked it," said Cika. "Now we're drawing attention to some of the beautiful century homes, the beautiful farms, and the produce and everything that's being created out here in Kinsman that everyone wants to enjoy."

Right at the middle of it is the Peter Allen Inn. Connecting the past, present, and future in Trumbull County.

The Inn is open for lunch and fine dining five days a week, while also hosting special events and holds its Friday night Tavern Night every week. You can learn more at peteralleninn.com.