Firm designs maple cubes for PACE
Maryland legislators, governor will be given lasting mementos

Peter Pihos Jr., co-owner of the Milestone Cube Co., performs a step in transforming one of the maple blocks into a PACE Reception souvenir. (Photo Credit: Wesley Haines/Times-News)

Sam Shawver
Times-News Staffwriter

CUMBERLAND — State legislators attending today’s PACE Reception in Annapolis will receive a unique memento of the occasion, thanks to the talents of Peter Pihos Jr. and his partner, Terry Lee, owners of the Milestone Cube Co. at 626 Greene St. in Cumberland.

Pihos and Lee use laser technology to reproduce images on polished hardwood maple cubes.

“They’re all hand-made and highly polished. It’s truly a unique product,” said Pihos. “We do it for special events in people’s lives like births, weddings, or even deaths.

“We had done some cubes for (PACE Committee member) Bob Smith’s daughter’s wedding,” he said. “They were given for gifts to wedding guests.”

While planning for the 2002 PACE Reception, Smith recommended giving cubes highlighting Western Maryland to the legislators and Gov. Robert Ehrlich.

“We thought it was a unique product that’s made right here in Western Maryland,” said Smith.

“The PACE Committee asked us to design a special cube,” said Pihos. “So we picked a theme of I-68, which runs around the top of the cube. There are also four panels with graphics of Canal Place and the scenic railroad, the LaVale Toll House, Casselman Bridge, and the Oakland train station.

“It’s a storybook of Allegany and Garrett counties,” he added.

Only six months old, the business already serves a world-wide clientele.

“We just shipped some calendar cubes to the Swatch group in Switzerland,” said Pihos. “They’re handing them out to VIP customers.”

Cubes have also been shipped to Japan, Hungary, Norway and other European nations.

Lee, at left, and Pihos started the Milestone Cube Co. last June, and the business is doing remarkably well, despite the fact that they do little commercial advertising.

“People truly love this product,” said Pihos. “We’ve done some advertising in Civil War magazines, but this seems to work well without a lot of advertising.”

He said satisfied customers are their best advertisers by recommending the business to their friends.

“We just wanted to do something different,” said Pihos. “The original cubes were created for my father, Pete Pihos Sr. who retired from the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1950s.”

The couple have also designed cubes for last year’s anniversary of the Civil War battle of Antietam.

“We’re doing one for the Gettysburg battlefield, too,” Pihos added.

He said the cubes sell for  $45 and up, depending on what images a customer wants engraved into the maple blocks.

Production is limited to 5,000 a year, and each product is numbered.

Terry Lee, partner in the business, polishes a completed cube. (Photo Credit: Wesley Haines/Times-News)

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Credit: Reprinted from Cumberland Times-News