Jay Mattlin, Real Estate Broker with Key Realty

As I stated in my introduction, I have considered getting my Real Estate Salesperson license since I was 19. I even enrolled in classes twice and then cancelled because I was not sure I could do it. I mean, I knew I could do it as I have earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree so the schooling was no problem. It was mainly the sales portion of real estate sales that scared me.

In the State of Ohio, there are several requirements to obtain your Real Estate Salesperson license:

1. Be honest, truthful, and of good reputation.
2. Be at least 18 years of age.
3. Be sponsored by an Ohio Broker.
4. Not have been convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude. Not have violated any civil rights laws regarding real estate in the past two years as determined by a court of law or violated any rules of t...

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So there are about five things I love in this world and this blog will discuss all of them at length but today it will be wine.

When I first learned about wine and learned of its glorious qualities, my friends and I began visiting local Ohio wineries to taste wine. It always ended up though that we would drive an hour, two hours, THREE HOURS JUST TO DRINK SOME GOOD WINE. I longed for a winery to open in Lancaster or even Fairfield County so my friends and I could have a nice hangout to chat and taste delicious Ohio wines.

Alas, Rockside Vineyards on State Route 37 between Rainbow Drive and Coonpath Road opened. I was beside myself to finally have a local winery that made its own wine from its own vineyard. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed by what had opened on Route 37 just outside Lancaster. I was disappointed for reasons that we need not discuss here. Do not let that last sentence fool you though! Something amazing was about to happen to Rockside Vineyards...

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My name is Jay Mattlin and I was born and raised in Lancaster, Ohio. Well, born in Columbus, Ohio but raised in Lancaster. I can remember growing up in a small neighborhood on the East Side and having neighborhood friends. We were all constantly together, especially in the summer. In that time together, we explored everywhere we could possibly get away with going to in our little city of Lancaster and that is where my love of Lancaster and Fairfield County began.

I graduated from Lancaster High School in 2005 and like every other graduating senior, I had a master plan in my head of how my life would shortly be. I'd go to school, find an awesome job, get rich and retire to the beach. Sadly, it quickly became clear that the first part of that was not going to happen for me as I just could not fathom going back to school for another four years. I had decided to get my real estate license. I spoke to a couple of brokers and one Realtor at a brokerage and I was told I was too y...

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Being a life long resident of Fairfield County, I have fallen in love with many of the things in the county that make up the amazing history of our county and make living here so great. So in this series, we will explore some of the hidden landmarks, places and things in Fairfield County that are definitely worth your time to visit and explore.

Our first one is the Roley School House Covered Bridge. If you're at all familiar with Fairfield County or Ohio, you know we have a lot of covered bridges and we like to preserve them. I have not seen any that are actually still in use since about 2003 when the Rockmill Covered Bridge was taken out of service. Many other bridges are still in their original locations all around Ohio with their old roads bypassing them now.

I bring up the Roley School House Bridge now though because of recent events regarding the bridge. Most people may know the Roley School House Bridge as the randomly placed covered bridge at the entrance to...

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