Three Magical Tiny Cabins Take Root in a Maine Forest

Architect Bill Bowick and designer David Bouffard took to Maine like a boat to water. Despite a drastic change in winds and weather (their previous home base was Charleston, South Carolina), they fell hard for a sloping, 27-acre waterfront property in picturesque Sedgwick. 

 The plot offers summertime views of bobbing lobster boats at anchor in Benjamin Harbor, and the gentle whir of churning engines in the distance. It’s no wonder the duo’s approach to rustic modernism mirrors the area’s tradition of boat construction and woodworking. How could it not? 

 "It’s very quiet and still with the exception of the birds, but when the lobstermen get going, at four or five in the morning, you hear them starting up the motors on their boats," they say. "It’s a nice sound to wake up to—it’s the beginning of the day." 

Despite the land’s obvious warm-weather beauty, the site first caught their attention on a chilly, off-season day. "We saw it in the winter and still loved it," they say, remembering their initial visit. "We wanted to put in an offer even without touring the property’s farmhouse."

Luckily, the Blue Hill Peninsula property still felt special on their second visit, even in the bitter cold. "It used to be a saltwater farm, which means they farmed the land and the sea," Bill explains. "We thought it was a really interesting property that checked all the boxes."

Soon after, the duo, founders of the design studio Bouffard & Bowick, relocated (and bundled up) to construct a cozy, multiunit retreat for seasonal visitors that would be known as The Cabins at Currier Landing.

Bill and David worked closely with area timber framer Jon Ellsworth, of Carding Brook Farm in nearby Brooklin, to construct the cabins’ heavy post-and-beam frames. Ellsworth fashioned handmade scale models before finalizing plans, and then, like the pine tree state’s historic boatbuilders, milled logs for the project from his own woodlot.

Working in tandem with the land’s sloping topography, David and Bill designed the approach to each structure to inspire the feeling of boarding a docked sea vessel. "Ramps lead up, like gangplanks going into a boat, and the decks are like bridges made of western red cedar," says Bill. Full-height walls and curved viewports provide moments of privacy and openness for the decks outside each cabin’s entrance.

After months of construction, Bill and David now offer short-term renters the choice of three contemporary micro-buildings to rest their heads. "The Pine cabin is a stick-built structure, made from two-by-fours with insulation for year-round use," Bill says of the 420-square-foot building. Fern and Meadow, both seasonal timber-framed structures, offer a few additional beds and a bit more space.