For the longest time, Marcia Freeland thought what she was doing – helping to develop a thriving arts community inside a century-old former textile mill – was unique. But then Freeland, the executive director of Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment in Huntsville, learned about a similar facility, Western Avenue in Lowell, Mass.

“It’s like taking a DNA test and finding a relative,” she says. In this case, the “relative” is a distant one, some 1,100 miles away. The difference is that Western Avenue includes live/work spaces and doesn’t offer the array of programming that Lowe Mill does.

In the South, anyway, there’s nothing else like “the Mill,” as Freeland affectionately calls it. Originally opened in 1901, the sprawling, 171,000-square-foot complex started as a cotton mill and became a shoe factory, where boots were made for Vietnam War soldiers. Jim Hudson, the founder of Research Genetics and co-founder of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, bought the building in 2001.

Today, the Mill offers 153 working studios for visual artists who create paintings, woodworking, jewelry, pottery, sculpture, photography, graphic design, printmaking and even culinary arts. The complex includes seven galleries, a theater and performance venues. It’s now the largest privately owned arts facility in the South, Freeland says.

“My boss is a visionary,” she says of Hudson. Artists are now relocating to Huntsville to be a part of the Mill, and Freeland says the space is full, with a waiting list. The demand “makes my heart happy,” she says.

Freeland thinks of each of the artists who lease studio space at the Mill as “small, independent businesses,” she says. They can collaborate and share information with each other, use it as a “home base” for creating when they’re going on the road to shows or exhibiting in galleries, and even sell their work on-premise.

One artist who leases studio space at the Mill is Jessica Nunno, who moved to Huntsville from New York City eight years ago. A native of Stratford, Conn., she felt “so out of place” at first, she says. “I was so used to New York life.”

But then she was introduced to the arts community, which she describes as “booming.” “Part of the reason is Lowe Mill,” she says.

An illustrator who specializes in science fiction, Nunno started exhibiting at the Artist Market held every Saturday. She also became an instructor in the Huntsville STEAM Works Education nonprofit located at the Mill.

“I got so involved that I ended up with my own studio a year ago,” she says. Most weeks, she spends about 50 hours in the building.

“It’s an amazing place,” she says. “I love spending time there. Lowe Mill has a community like I’ve never experienced anywhere I’ve ever been.”

When painter Stacie Netherton moved to Huntsville from an artsy community in middle Tennessee, she was surprised and delighted to discover Lowe Mill in a city known for technology and engineering. “I knew this was a place I needed to be,” she says. “The artists and the public are really engaged. It’s a creative, thriving arts community.”

Netherton, who spends at least four days a week working in her studio, says she loves the accessibility of the other artists at the Mill and sharing ideas with them.

“I believe everybody could benefit from creative space away from whatever keeps you from being creative,” says Freeland. “It’s a lovely thing to have that freedom, that space.”

Since she started working at the Mill seven years ago, Freeland has taken on the expansion and development of the building with the passion of an artist. “My huge art project is the Mill,” she says. When she took the job, the South wing was the only one in use. Over the years, she built out the North wing and the Railroad Rooms.

“It takes hours to walk through,” she says of the complex. And on any given day, a visitor can walk down a hall, then walk back 30 minutes later and see something entirely different depending on whose doors are open. “It’s great because there’s always an open door,” she says. “It’s constantly changing.”

Watching artists work, and having a chance to interact with them, is a rare and wonderful opportunity, Freeland says. “We are giving access to people who might not have access to the arts. Anyone can come in.”

The space itself is filled with light, thanks to the huge windows. The maple floors are “not shiny and new, but oily” – they were oiled when the building operated as a mill, to make them easier to clean. And Freeland loves the acoustics. “There are really beautiful sounds, because wood is above and beneath you.”

In addition to providing creative space for artists, The Mill gives everyone else a chance to try their hand at a variety of types of art. “Here, you can take a workshop and see if you like something, like bookmaking. You can experiment just for a day,” Freeland says. “It’s very organic in nature.”

Visitors come from “all around,” she says. “It’s a beautiful thing. People stop here, eat, walk around, maybe buy some art. A lot of people say they feel so calm here. It’s a really calming place to be. This is everybody’s happy place.”

Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment is open to the public Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 6 p.m., Friday from noon to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.lowemill.net.