Holmquist says that here in rural America, cupolas had a function. "Today, they're more for decoration," he said. Cedar Mountain Cupolas has a showroom in Gray off Route 26 in the Hall's Storage complex. Holmquist has made cupola building a full-time profession, but it wasn't always that way. Holmquist makes these roof ornaments from pine, cedar and even maintenance-free PVC. Most get a copper roof and perhaps a weather vane, but some homeowners prefer to shingle their cupola in the same roofing material as their home. Many have windows, even stained glass, and are lit at night with either electric lights or a lantern.

"My dad began building cupolas in the early '70s," said Holmquist, 45. "I started helping out at around 10 or 11 years old." Holmquist learned the craft from his father off and on through the years, but it wasn't until the early '90s that it became a profession, when he and his wife had their second child. "It was driven from a matter of having my own flexibility and being able to help my wife with the kids at home," said Holmquist, now a father of five.

The showroom is at Hall's storage complex, but the workshop is next to their home off the Egypt Road. Holmquist employs two cupola builders full-time here, and much of the business is wholesaling to Weathervanes of Maine, a cupola dealer on Route 1 in Searsport.

Cedar Mountain makes cupolas from 18 to 84 inches square. Nothing but knot-free, select materials go into constructing these ornaments. Forty percent are made of pine, forty percent of cedar, and the remaining twenty percent are of PVC. "We get native Maine white cedar, which is hard to come by in this part of the state," says Holmquist. "We travel sometimes as far as Frenchville (in Aroostook County) to get it. They save their clear stock just for us." Cedar Mountain also builds with western red cedar from Washington State and Oregon.

Using PVC - which Holmquist purchases a lift at a time in 4 x 8 sheets, three-quarters of an inch thick - came about through customer demand. Homeowners don't want to climb up on the roof every few years and paint. "We work it just like wood," he said. "The only difference is you can't sand your joints afterwards."

The copper roofs are a dramatic finish to these little structures, and Cedar Mountain now buys its copper by the ton. The roof construction is interesting. A five-quarter thick pine rafter - four are necessary on a pyramid-shaped roof - get concave arcs sawed along their length and assembled in a square pyramid shape. This frame is then covered with a thin, one-eighth inch plywood substrate in preparation for the copper.

Holmquist says being a coppersmith is a little different from woodworking. The roof panels are put on with nails driven by a ball-peen hammer. "We put the flat sides on, and then we put a rib over each seam," said Holmquist. "You have to hold it down, punch a hole with an awl for your nail, then you hold everything down on the concave surface while you start your nail," he said. "One miss of the hammer and you ruin a panel."

It's details like everlasting copper that make a product standout. "That's the neat part," said Holmquist of the process. "You put the copper on and then it looks done."

To contact the showroom, call 657-5191.