Restoring a Coastal Maine Landscape: From Construction Damage to Ecological Renewal

A 3-acre coastal Maine property, devastated by construction damage, insect infestation, and Hurricane Hanna, has been reborn as a thriving Acadian garden. Landscape architect Matthew Cunningham healed erosion, planted native pioneer species, and crafted a network of paths and terraces that invite solitude and connection to the rugged coast.

The Damage

Construction of the winterized Fox House (2007) damaged forest-edge trees, leaving interior trees vulnerable to wind. Hurricane Hanna toppled many, accelerating erosion. The understory was gone, exposing the site to wind and runoff.

Healing with Native Plants and Local Stone

Cunningham, a Maine native, envisioned an Acadian garden of tucked-away spots within a healing landscape. He used native plants, leftover quarry granite, and even hand-tucked moss between stones to accelerate aging. New soils and erosion-control fabrics stabilized slopes.

Wildlife Returns

The landscape's recovery brought back foxes, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and birds. A curious vixen stole workers' gloves nightly. Plantings—hay-scented fern, bunchberry, ferns, bayberry, sheep laurel, viburnum, blueberry, fothergilla—provide food and habitat. Deer-resistant Annabelle hydrangeas remain untouched.

Stone, Water, and Circulation

Locally quarried granite slabs—lichen-encrusted from a closed Frankfort quarry—form patios, walls, and a 9-foot slab integrated into a dry-laid fieldstone wall overlooking Somes Sound. Moss was hand-tucked into joints. Grading directs runoff into trenches, pipes, and drainage basins. Minimal retaining walls nestle the house into the slope; ferns soften fence edges.

The house now sits within a renewed coastal woodland where natural succession has restarted—a legacy for generations to watch the forest transform.