THE WOOD GUY

Ask just about any Maine boatbuilder where they get their wood and they’ll tell you about Richard Simon and his business, America’s Wood Company.

“It’s a great place,” says Sam Temple, owner of Rockport Marine in Rockport. “Rich accommodates nearly all of our needs from planking stock to interior joinery.”

Simon’s millworks sits inland in a small town called Washington, a 25-minute drive from the coast, on a wooded lot off state Route 17. If you blink, you’ll pass it, but inside 15,000 square feet of sheds, over a hundred thousand board feet of lumber are stored. Some boards are more than 20 feet in length, over 3 feet in width and over 6 inches thick. Organized by species, they rise to the rafters. It’s a boatbuilder’s and woodworker’s dream.

Simon was introduced to woodworking in the 1970s in Rockaway, New Jersey, where he took occupational classes in his local high school’s vocational program. In 1976, after graduating, a friend who was headed to