The Boston & Kennebunkport Seashore Company was the group of New England men who incorporated in 1872 to develop five miles of coastline from Cape Porpoise to Lord’s Point into a summer tourist colony. To entice prospective cottage builders, the Seashore Company commissioned The Moulton Brothers of Salem, Massachusetts to take a series of stereoscopics of the principals posed before all the scenic beauty #kennebunkport Cape Arundel had to offer.

The first stereo card here, (#1) is a candid shot of the Company men pretending to stroll about on Colony Beach.

Their jubilant wives had joined them in the second shot (#2). A previous owner of this card had the foresight to include some of their names on the back.

In the third image taken in 1872 by the Moulton Brothers of Salem (#3), the gentlemen of the Seashore Company are posed along the little Kennebunk River stoney beach between Government Wharf and the eastern breakwater. What a treat to be able to see upriver all the way to the village in 1872. There were not many trees there then. Many trees were used in local shipbuilding.

Biddeford photographer, Benjamin S. Abbot was hired by the Seashore Company after the Ocean Bluff Hotel was built in 1873 approximately where the Colony Hotel now stands. (#4) The Ocean Bluff Hotel burned under suspicious circumstances in February 1898.

Share your memories and images of Cape Arundel in the comments. We would love to add them to our records. #kennebunkport