WOOLWICH, Maine — Most people likely can’t imagine building their own house—let alone actually do it.

But at the Shelter Institute, the six annual classes are packed with students who want to do just that.

And the school shows them how.

“We did find in the 2000s it was difficult to find students to take a class,” Gaius Hennin said, who runs the school with his sister, Blueberry Beeton.

“(Now) the pendulum has swung back with a vengeance," he said. "We are completely sold out for classes in 2026."

That popularity harkens back to the early years of the Shelter Institute almost 50 years ago when their parents, Pat and Patsy Hennin, started the school to teach people how to design and build their own homes.

The classes have been refined over the years, and the primary focus today is teac

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