Apr. 3—HENDERSON — Where Bud Vaughn’s venue once was, Cross Fox Farm now calls home.

The new event space at 224 Vaughn Road boasts a picturesque little pond with a gazebo nearby with rolling hills in the near distance. Across from the pond is a hall modeled after a bard and just next door, the man cave, a little house, its rustic wooden interior decorated with taxidermied animals. Downstairs there’s a hunting arcade game and a bumper pool table upstairs.

Across the way is a bigger house meant for the women in a marriage party. Outside of it is a putting green made out of an old swimming pool. Lastly, there’s a bar built out of the shell of an old grain silo.

Co-owners Dan and Annalee Caster bought the five and a half acre lot up at an auction late last year, haggling the price down to $425,000 from half a million and officially opened for business two weekends back.

Annalee came up with the name. She was looking for a mascot, but everything she wanted at first was taken — until she came upon the cross fox — created by the marriage of a red fox and a silver fox. It bears traits from both parents and is known for the cross pattern on its back.

So as the cross fox is a marriage of two foxes, so too shall the venue marry people, Annalee explained.

As mentioned, they picked up Bud Vaughn’s farm and realized the only thing the property needed was more power. A wedding venue was thus a natural fit, they explained.

Dan is a personal storage man, owning three A-1 Personal Storage facilities. He comes from a real estate family and hails from San Diego, California. Years back, the Casters set out across the South, looking for a place to branch out. They always came back to North Carolina.

This isn’t their first foray into weddings — they had hosted their son’s marriage to mixed martial arts fighter Hannah Caster, née Cifers, at their property in Wake Forest and had considered opening a venue there, later deciding against it.

One thing that sets Cross Fox Farm apart from other venues is that they welcome quinceañeras, said Dan. Common in Latin American cultures, they’re celebrations of a girl’s 15th birthday.

Chamber members and staff welcomed the Casters to Henderson and thanked them for choosing the city. The farm currently employs five people.