You may think about Cherry Garcia Ice Cream when you look at this house. During my childhood, Port Candy was the center of the universe. This house predates us all by almost 200 years.

Thomas Wiswall arrived in Cape Porpoise from Newton, Massachusetts with his family c.1750. They purchased a blockhouse built by Rowlandson Bond on the Kennebunk River. There were only 6 other buildings in Kennebunkport Village by then. Wiswall’s blockhouse stood at what is now the corner of Union Street and Ocean Avenue. According to Kennebunkport History author Charles Bradbury, Wiswall’s wharf was the first one built on the eastern side of the Kennebunk River.

Thomas Wiswall built himself a schooner in 1751. He owned the first vessel from Arundel to set sail for the West Indies. That first voyage under the command of Capt. James Hovey barely got out of Cape Porpoise Harbor before most of the live cattle on deck as cargo slid into the ocean. Thomas Wiswall persevered and by 1764 he was one of the wealthiest citizens of Arundel. He was also one of the few people in Arundel who had an enslaved person working in his household. During the American Revolution, Thomas was a War Inspector. His two cannons were the ones used in the Battle of Cape Porpoise Harbor in 1782.

Wiswall’s blockhouse was struck by lightning on the evening of June 8, 1786. It struck the chimney, de-nailing all the roof boards around it. The closed windows in the house shattered. Iron curtain rods sitting on the floor near the chimney directed electricity into the closet of the room below. Wiswall’s gun was leaning there wrapped in woolen cloth. The gun muzzle was instantly melted, setting the woolen cloth case on fire. The five people there were knocked insensible. See details of the damages in the attached 1786 Massachusetts Gazette article.

This shocking event inspired Wiswall to start building a new home for his family next door. His elegant 1786 house became Port Candy during my childhood. It still stands on Union Street and now houses Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Do you remember anything about this house?