Fairy House Village

Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens, Boothbay, Maine

In 2013 we won an open call to artists and were awarded the contract to design and build the Fairy House Village at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine. 

If you’ve been to The Gardens before, you might have missed it. Down by the river, far from the Visitor Center, we created a space intentionally left a little wild.

I grew up about a mile down the road from Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, years before it existed, and experienced first hand the magic a kid could feel playing in those unspoiled Maine woods. The goal for the project was to create the bones and boundaries of the Fairy House Village without taking away from that magic by doing too much.

I imagined that there had been an ancient kingdom in these woods, long forgotten. And all that remained were stone remnants. In the proposal, I included a bit of background story:

Long, long ago

On the coast of Maine

Was a kingdom so ancient

Time has swallowed its name

—

Gone are the kings

And queens that did reign

In these woods by the sea

Only fairies remain

These stone ruins, standing stones, stone circle and other features subtly define the boundaries of the Fairy House Village, leaving plenty of room for imagination and play.

I didn’t know at the time, but this would be the first of many creative stone projects at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.