Our Story
Roots that found their way home.
A Place Tega Cay
Has Always Known
There is a building at 2150 Gold Hill Road that has been part of Tega Cay since 1977. A lot of people have passed through it. A lot of memories live in its walls. For the last few years, it has needed more love than it was getting.
Christine and Karl Schaefer are the people who showed up to give it that love.
Take a piece of this community’s history and leave it better than we found it.— Karl Schaefer
Karl and Christine have flipped more than one house together, and they have, as Christine puts it, a particular set of skills for bringing old buildings back to new life. They wanted to do that here.
A Town Worth
Protecting
Christine and Karl first visited Tega Cay in 2013, when close friends moved here. They fell in love with what they found: a town with a genuine “we’re all in this together” way of thinking, whether that meant being on the boat at the sandbar or getting a neighborhood project done.
They eventually moved here themselves. And like a lot of people who move to Tega Cay, they started to feel something they didn’t want to lose.
Like most communities, to stay strong, we need a third place — not home, not work — where we can connect to each other, sit down, share a meal, share a moment. That’s what makes a thriving, happy community.— Christine Schaefer
The idea of building that place had been forming for years. In early 2025, when a bid came open to run the city-owned clubhouse, they put in for it. They didn’t win. But the process of going through it helped them get clear on what they actually wanted to build.
When 2150 Gold Hill Road came available, they saw it immediately. From first look to signed lease: two weeks.
A Brae is
a Hillside
The name is not decorative.
Christine’s maiden name is Dawson — an offshoot of the Davidson clan in Scotland. Her father traced their family heritage back to the original Scottish settlers who came over after Mary, Queen of Scots was removed from the throne. Karl has Scottish roots as well. And the Carolinas themselves were significantly shaped by Scottish and Irish settlers, whose influence on the region’s culture and food runs deeper than most people realize.
The Scottish thread in Maisie’s Green Brae is real and earned. It’s in the name, in the word brae, in the menu.
Neither does Maisie.
The Schaefers adopted their one-eyed foxhound in 2025, after watching the Puppy Bowl. Her name — chosen by their son — means “little pearl” in Gaelic. She came home already blind in one eye. It doesn’t slow her down.
She caught our hearts with her brave spirit, her silliness, her joyful way of just doing the simple things. Every single person she meets is her new friend.— Christine Schaefer
That, Christine says, is the spirit they wanted at the center of the restaurant.
The Door Opens
July 4th
U-Phonik on the stage. A backyard full of neighbors. Smoke carrying to the parking lot. Maisie at the door.
When we gather together to share good food and good music, we have all created the Good Life together.— Christine Schaefer