Chuck Bucklin’s great great uncle Edward Hodgdon founded C.E. Bucklin, originally called E.A. Hodgdon, in 1910. Three nephews – Horace Bucklin, Charles Bucklin, and Fred Bucklin – all worked with Edward in the family business.

At C.E. Bucklin & Sons, we are dedicated to listening to our clients and bringing their visions to fruition. We forge loyal relationships that often last generations, and we provide an unsurpassed level of client satisfaction. Our watchful supervision ensures that the most exacting standards are met, and the most suitable materials and products selected to meet today’s need for beautiful, functional, healthy living spaces.

E.A. Hodgdon was responsible for building most of the original homes in Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor and mastered the art of the classic Maine cottage. During the 1920s and 1930s the company grew from a residential construction company into a national crating and shipping company.

The first contract for crating and shipping military supplies to Europe was awarded by the Department of the Navy during World War I. During World War II, when most of the men in town had left to go fight, E.A. Hodgdon hired more than 50 women from Northeast Harbor to work for the military crating and shipping effort.

In the 1940s Horace Bucklin took over the company from his uncle. Hoddie was a talented young carpenter and eventually the company became known as H.E. Bucklin. Both Horace Bucklin’s sons worked in the family business and continuing the construction of fine quality custom homes and the continued even expansion of the crating and shipping business.

Henry Ford, a long time summer resident of Seal Harbor, admired the crating operations in Northeast Harbor and decided to order crates for his cars. He and Horace Bucklin came up with a plan to get enough crates to his factory in Michigan. The Ford Motor Company offered a large boxing contract to H.E. Bucklin for the crating of his cars, that had the added bonus of keeping enough carpenters in town to build his house. The story is the first bill from H.E. Bucklin was for an advance on the crates. Ford Motor Company never paid any supplier in advance but Henry Ford himself ordering the accounting department to “just pay it.”

The original 1942 contract with Ford Motor Company marked the beginning of a large expansion and the eventual spin-off of the Crobb Box Company. Crobb stands for Clement, Richardson, O’Brien and Bucklin, the four founding partners. Although the Bucklins have sold their interest in the company it is still in operation today as a major wholesale lumber company in Ellsworth, Maine.

Charles “Chuck” Bucklin joined the family business after college in 1978. The company had been building homes in Northeast Harbor and Seal Harbor for so many decades that it was said a Bucklin had worked on every single home in those villages

Chuck purchased the company from his grandfather Horace in 1986 and renamed the company to C.E. Bucklin & Sons.

Chuck has over 30 years of experience building Maine cottages, the architectural style so popular in this area. His strict attention to detail and complete obsession with doing the job right have earned him the reputation as a world-class carpenter. Chuck has been interviewed on building shows on HGTV and in building magazines for his outstanding quality work, and is passing on a tradition of excellence to the next generation of Bucklins.