Henry David Thoreau Walden Cabin Series
Original Handwritten Draft of Walden. Photo Taken by SBWI President Luke Barnett in 2023.
Reconnect with the Past, Learn Skills, Build for the Future
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) famously lived in a modest one-room cabin by Walden Pond, documenting his experiment in self-sufficient living in his classic book, Walden. His reflections on nature, independence, and the benefits of honest, hands-on work continue to resonate today. By recreating the Walden cabin here in Michigan, we aim to inspire a new generation to slow down, connect with natural materials, and embrace the art of building something enduring.
Join us in Recreating Thoreau’s iconic cabin from Walden—entirely by hand, using 19th-century methods. This immersive experience brings together people from all walks of life to learn, collaborate, and celebrate the enduring legacy of self-reliance, simplicity, and craftsmanship that Thoreau championed.
A Four-Part Series—Take One or Take All
Our Walden Cabin Series is divided into four standalone courses, each focusing on a different aspect of historical construction. You can sign up for a single class that sparks your interest or enroll in the entire series to help build the complete cabin:
All About Axes
Dive into the history and anatomy of axes.
Craft your own axe handle.
Master felling, splitting, and hewing techniques.
Hand Tool Timber Framing
Learn traditional timber frame layout and joinery.
Use hand tools—chisels, mallets, saws—to shape each beam.
Raise a sturdy timber frame without power tools.
19th Century Windows & Doors
Explore period-accurate methods for crafting wooden sash windows and simple board doors.
Repair old sash and glazing using historically appropriate techniques.
Finish doors and frames for an authentic 19th-century appearance.
Riving, Shingling, and Siding
Discover the art of splitting wood (“riving”) with a froe and club.
Shape and install hand-split shakes for roofing and siding.
Prepare interior surfaces with traditional lath for lime plaster.
No Experience Needed
The Walden Cabin Series welcomes beginners and experts alike. You’ll learn under the guidance of experienced instructors who are passionate about teaching time-honored techniques. Each course combines hands-on practice, group collaboration, and engaging discussions on hand-tool woodworking, historical methods, and the ethos of Thoreau’s philosophy.Join us at the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute and discover how our timber framing classes and timber framing courses can transform your approach to carpentry. Learn timber framing in a supportive community environment, master the use of timber framing tools, and be part of a project that donates a timber frame pavilion to benefit your local community. Embrace the blend of traditional craftsmanship and modern innovation—enroll today and start your journey towards mastering the timeless art of woodworking.
Hewing a beam for the Cabin.
Meet Your Instructors
ETHAN HIGGINS
TIMBER FRAMER
SPECIALIZATIONS
Timber frame construction
Barn Restoration
Hewn timber
Round log scribing
Ethan is a timber framer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Born in Eastern Massachusetts and learning the trade while working in Vermont, he was first brought to Michigan in 2017 to help his close friends build a new milking parlor on their 6th generation dairy farm. Ethan soon found a wide interest in his work - especially within the small farm community in Washtenaw County - and in 2019 started his own company, Roof Jumper Timber Frames (named for a barn on his family’s now defunct dairy farm). Since then, he has built and restored a variety of timber frame structures, many of which are working barns and agricultural buildings on small, family-owned farms. Ethan specializes in hewn, scribed, and full-round material, and has adopted a mission to not only promote the craft of timber framing, but also to work in line with the vision of what the world can look like when care is put into the food we grow, the buildings we construct, and the work we do every day.
Nathaneal Ulfers
TIMBER FRAMER
SPECIALIZATIONS
Timber Framing
Vernacular Architecture
Historical Restoration & Preservation
Nathanael Ulfers is a Virginian woodworker and timber-framer, specializing in vernacular architecture and early methods of the craft from his own region of the Chesapeake and to an increasing degree, all over.
A deep interest in architecture, a propensity for pre-industrial craftsmanship, and a very wise grandmother set the course at childhood. Early experiments and hungry research led to great opportunities in the bountiful field of historic restoration. Here in the land of first presidents, Nathanael sought out and learned from the best in the field on the likes of Mount Vernon, Montpelier, and many other great early American houses over the years.
In the time since, Nathanael has traveled all over the east coast for clients such as the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, and all the way to Japan to move a Meiji Era farmhouse to the western hemisphere. Most recently, Nathanael has been working in Jamaica as the lead timber-framer on a large project involving many structures designed and built using historical materials and methods of Jamaica.
When he isn't on the road or lost in an airport, Nathanael can be found buried alive under his own personal projects in a 1750s-built Virginia hall-and-parlor just east of Fredericksburg, with his wife (an expert in historic textiles) and young son (an expert in excited incoherent babbling).
Nathanael is a contributor to the Traditional Timber-framing Research and Advisory Group of the Timber Framers Guild and teaches workshops for preservation students of Mary Washington University, the American College of Building Arts, and has been instructing at VMI's biannual FTX timber framing workshop since 2015.