All I want for Christmas is reassurance that treasures preserved by the Kennebunkport Historical Society will be accessible to your children’s, children when they are ready for them. My weekly goal here is to keep sharing our history but I will have dropped the ball if our historical treasures indefinitely remain vulnerable to fire and water. Please join me in support of President Andrea Rolleri’s archival storage facility project which was recently approved by the Planning Board. It’s time!

Some of our ancient documents are handwritten in cursive. That means that fewer people can read them these days, but they need our protection as much as ever. At first glance, they may not seem as appealing as photographs but in some cases, they hold far greater historical significance.

This document was donated to the Society in 1963 by the Goose Rocks Beach Association. It’s a grant or lease to Gregory Jeffrey in 1651 for “Land in the great marsh” aka Goose Rocks Beach, as well as Folly, Goat and Green Islands by George Cleeve, an agent for Alexander Rigby, who had acquired the old Plough Patent in 1643.

A small ship of sixty tons called The Plough brought ten passengers from London to claim a 1630 land patent that included Cape Porpoise. Governor Winthrop wrote in his journal that they were of the Husbandmen company. According to the Gov., they had all turned out to be Familists and abandoned their grant. Notable aspects of the sect’s beliefs were free love and communal living. Some followers may still have resided in Cape Porpoise in the 1650s when the Jeffrey land was granted.

Long-time members of the Kennebunkport Historical Society may have read the story I wrote in the old Society Log in 2004 titled ‘Sects in the Settlement’. It was about Mary Batson Clay, who according to court records took the concept of free love and communal living to the next level in Cape Porpoise. The Batson River was named after her father, Stephen Batson, who was of Saco by 1637. He is known to have sheltered a persecuted Quaker in Cape Porpus.

May all our Christmas wishes come true!