David got into building early, with his father leading him in a succession of rafts and tree forts. Arriving at Dartmouth in 1980 he became a devotee of log building. He built many trail shelters and cabins over his undergrad years and then 10 years as a facilities manager at Dartmouth in the 1990s. Moving to Vershire in 1994 where his wife Kathy teaches at the Mountain School, he became involved in the life of the town. A sabbatical in Ladakh in 2000, teaching in a school and seeing community life in that remote area convinced him to leave Dartmouth.
While working on Vershire projects, he was hired by the Mountain School to facilitate design of a cow barn. David found this design process exceptionally satisfying, concluding in a timber frame barn framed entirely by students using hand tools. Josh Jackson was hired to be the timber-framing instructor, and the two became fast friends as they saw this work through. By 2005 they were ready to form TimberHomes.
David, son Benjamin, and Kathy live in Vershire. David serves as Moderator of the Town meeting, helps organize the annual Cabaret, and sings with the nearby Thetford Chamber Singers. He sees TimberHomes as a key part of Vershire’s long-term commercial life.
David has found it a tremendous privilege to be invited into the lives of TimberHomes’ diverse and fascinating clients, to help them realize their dreams for their homes, barns, and other special spaces. He has found it particularly satisfying to have had a hand in structures that have transformed communities, through community mobilization. Of these, the Flying Cloud Reciprocal Pavilion, the Crew Quarters and five bunkhouses at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, and perhaps most of all, the Meeting House in Monteverde Costa Rica have been standouts.
