Home Sweet Home

While away at the WoodenBoat School I really had two homes. One was my room at the Boathouse, and the other was the bay of the shop that I happened to be teaching in that week (More later on that...)

The Boathouse

My room at the Boathouse was clean and comfortable but not fancy.

First, there were the stairs:

This view is looking down from my room into the stairwell to the first floor. The door at the top is just about 4 1/2' or 5' tall. The stairs have a left-hand winder at the top and a right hand winder at the bottom. Thankfully, the height of the door at the bottom was a typical door height. As you can see, after the first night, I discovered there was even a light in my stairwell.

The South Wall:
The south wall of the room was actually the back of the fireplace in the great room. The door to the stairs is to the right. Hidden to the left of the folding chair was a somewhat 'unique' chair made from a wooden keg.

The North Wall:I had a desk against the north wall with a small window over it. Immediately to the right is the bedside table and a fouton couch made up as a bed. You can't see them, but there are two good-sized windows over the bed. There were no curtains on the windows. Let's just say that the sun is up awfully early in that part of Maine in the summer time.

The West Wall:

Other than the door downstairs and the small white table, there was a great closet. I say great because the closet was above the water heater and was always warm. Every morning I got a warm, dry towel. In an environment as damp as the waterfront was, that was a real treat.

As you can see, the furniture was all relatively small - I don't think you could have gotten a real full-size mattress up the stairs if you wanted to. Still, it was warm and cheerful. It was also relatively private. During the evenings, there wasn't really anyone around but staff. I actually felt quite fortunate to have this as my living space.

The Shop:

Before I delve into too much detail about the shop, I should say something about the whole facility. It was originally a Gentleman Farmer's getaway built sometime around 1915. The magazine has offices in the main house - an imposing white brick building. Just down the hill from the house is a new building which houses the store and the associated mail-order business. The shop, originally a barn, houses 4 classrooms. One in a loft above the east bay, and one each in the west, center and east bay. Above the west bay is a living space for instructors. Like the house, it is an imposing brick structure and is interesting in that the builder seems to have been hoping it would be fireproof. The roof is reinforced concrete with slate. Adjacent to the barn is the original farmhouse where the Gentleman Farmer's staff, who actually took care of the place, lived. The Farmhouse had been re-done as both student and instructor housing.


The gray building to the rear of the shop houses a lumber room and a mill room. The mill room had excellent tools including a 24" planer, large bandsaw, 12" planer, jointer and a Saw Stop Table saw all of which were equipped with excellent dust collection. The bow-sheds to the back were for the storage of both boats (both in the on and off-season) and class materials. To the left is the pole barn in which some of the bronze casting classes were held and serves as boat storage. (Did I mention, there is a lot of boat storage?)


Center hall of the center bay. A lovely well lit and well ventilated space.