Landscape Architect Articles

The Amazing Ms. Quimby Marches On11-11-05 | News

The Amazing Ms. Quimby Marches On

Roxanne Quimby wants to build a village green for Winter Harbor, Maine, not to mention donating a national forest for northern Maine.

Roxanne Quimby has offered to finance the building and maintenance of a village green for her summer home in Winter Harbor, Maine, hiring the landscape architectural firm of Coplon Associates of Bar Harbor and holding a town meeting about the design possibilities. While many at the town meeting were excited by the project and offered myriad ideas, some long-time residents, judging by local news reports, feel a bit imposed upon by Quimby?EUR??,,????'???s project.

Quimby?EUR??,,????'???s story is, in a word, amazing. A Cambridge, Mass. native, she came to the Maine woods with her husband in 1975, bought 30 acres and lived without electricity, running water or a car. Later, as a divorced mother, waitressing part time, she teamed up with local beekeeper Burt Shavitz and sold his honey and items made from beeswax. The pair founded Burt’s Bees, which developed into a thriving line of natural personal-care products. Quimby, the CEO, found Maine?EUR??,,????'???s business climate restrictive and moved the company to Durham, N. C. She sold 80% of the company to AEA Investors in 2004 for a reported $180 million, but has remained the company CEO.

Her other major endeavor is buying up thousands of acres of Maine forests through her land trust, Elliotsville Plantation, with the goal to donate those lands for a national park in northern Maine