Penelope Sagawa and Jurgen Schelzig started Spring Gap Mountain Creamery on a 32-acre farm in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 2009. What was originally planned as a weekend getaway from DC office jobs turned into a business and a new life as cheesemakers and farmers. After spending a year building the cheese house and obtaining all the required permits, licenses and certifications, they began making raw (unpasteurized) cow’s milk cheeses in April 2010.

All of the milk for the cheese is purchased from Kitty Hockman-Nicholas, owner of Hedgebrook Farm in Winchester, Virginia, which operates the last glass-tube milking machine in Virginia. Kitty raises a small herd of Jersey cows that are 100% pasture raised and have been given the "Animal Welfare Approved" seal by Animal Welfare Approved, a non-profit animal welfare organization.