About Steve

Ann and I came to Maine thirty years ago looking for land and a community in which to start a family and build a business. Little did we know at the time that we were only the latest in a wave of hippies, back-to-the-landers, following in the foot steps of Scott and Helen Nearing, seeking cheap land and a chance at building a personal version of the good life. The tide of newcomers continues to this day.  Our village, Bowdoinham has become a mecca for young folks arriving with visions of farming organically as well as artists and crafts-people seeking a welcoming place to live.

A chance vacation in the early 80's caused us to shift our search for land or a small farm from the Amish country of Pennsylvania to Maine. A long Easter weekend visit to look at land and the sage advice of our real estate agent, “If you're both self employed in Delaware, you're unemployed in Maine,” (translation, without jobs in Maine, you can't get a mortgage.) convinced us to sell our home, take a leap into the dark, and move to Maine. At the time, the typical real estate come-on ad was “house, with barn and ten acres, $30,000.” No mention was made of the fact that both house and barn were falling into the cellar-hole. We found a 200 year old farmhouse and barn with ten acres of land in the village of Bowdoinham. The village sits on the shore of Merrymeeting Bay, and even though we are thirty miles from the ocean, the water at the landing is brackish. We had found the most perfect place in the world. It just took us a while to realize it.

Shortly after we came to Maine, someone told us jokingly that everyone in Maine has three jobs. We laughed, until a few years later, we realized that we each had three jobs. We are both older now, and easing back a bit. We only have two jobs each now.

I have been a cabinet-maker for well over thirty years, and have been making Windsor chairs for over twenty years. I have worked in mill-work, building custom doors, windows, and milling molding, worked for a nationally known furniture company both in their prototype and the production departments. I am self-taught, but have had the good fortune to work with some amazing people, who have taught me a lot. 

I am listed in Early American Life Magazine's Directory of Traditional Craftsmen, a juried listing of the top two-hundred traditional crafts-people in the US. I have been listed in the Directory for both my traditional Windsor chairs and my miniatures, which are based on my full sized chairs. I have made chairs for the White House, and created reproductions of antique Windsors for several Maine museums, and antique dealers.

I specialize in reproducing antique Windsor chairs, whether its grand-mothers chair, or a photograph from The Magazine Antiques. I am always happy to talk with anyone about Windsor chairs, and I welcome visitors to my shop.