Browsing through 1946 Kennebunkport newspapers the other day I noticed that on the back page of every issue of the short-run Time and Tide newspaper there appears a skillfully drawn installment of a cartoon series called, The Commodore and Skipper, by Peter Hesse. Being a fan of cartoons and of local history, I chased his story.

Edith Barry still owned the 10-year-old Brick Store Museum on Main St in Kennebunk in 1946. At first, her museum was one gallery on the second floor of the brick building she had inherited from her uncle William E. Barry. The Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water Company had long-since occupied the first floor. When they moved down Main Street in 1945, Edith doubled her gallery space with the help of Architect Charles Ewing. They transformed the first floor of her old brick building with an interior staircase and gallery space. Passers-by could finally be drawn in with a glimpse through the street level windows. She hired her talented young cousin as Gallery Director for the summer of 1946.

Peter Carl Hesse was a 22-year-old Providence Rhode Island man. His mother’s grandfather was famous Kennebunk shipbuilder, Nathaniel Lord Thompson. Peter attended Rhode Island School of Design for a year before World War II intervened. He used his artistic talent during the war as part of a top-secret unit creating a 3D model of the Utah Beach landing area in Nazi-occupied Normandy. Allied forces used it to plan the D-Day attack. Many years later Peter explained in an interview, “We made the homes out of cork, trees out of sponge, and painted the whole thing.” The 3D map they made is now held at the Library of Congress.

Hesse reported to his Kennebunk Job in June of 1946. He boarded with Frank Jennings of Grove Street while running the revolving gallery exhibits, weekly sketch club, and art lessons at the museum all summer. In his spare time, he drew weekly cartoons for Time and Tide.

Peter Hesse moved away and on with his career at the end of the summer. He even fulfilled a dream of having one of his cartoons appear in the New Yorker.