Author: Sharon Cummins (Sharon Cummins)

“Yes, we do have a ghost living here,” said Marie Henrikson, former proprietor of Tides Inn. Guests sometimes say they have seen a stately-looking woman dressed in Victorian garb rocking in a certain chair in the parlor or seated in front of the piano. “We’re convinced the ghost is Mrs. Emma L. Foss,” said Henrikson,...

I have always admired the elegance and symmetry of the structures at the intersection of Main and Fletcher Streets in Kennebunk. It cannot be accidental that the bank and the library, two very compatible colonial brick buildings flank the stately soldier’s monument and the entrance to Fletcher Street while respecting the antiquity of the Unitarian...

Homelessness is not much of a problem in Kennebunkport these days but that wasn’t always the case. When the 1896 freshet took out the bridge between Dock Square and Kennebunk Lower Village and a new bridge was under construction, businessmen complained about the less desirable class of people hanging around the train station. Those poor...

When the last of the abandoned Penobscot camps near Government Wharf were torn down in 1936 the local newspaperman reminisced about how fondly some of its peaceful inhabitants were still remembered nine years after they had all left. The very athletic Sockalexis cousins came to mind. The famous Louis Francis Sockalexis, the first Native American...

Sagamore Thomas Chabinock, of Nampscoscoke bequeathed unto John Wadleigh of Wells, all the land from the Ogunquit River to Kennebunk River, up to the Mousam River Falls, in 1649, with the consent of Tom’s mother, Ramanascho. In 1654, John Wadleigh’s son Robert conveyed the portion on the northeast bank of the Mousam River, then called...

Paul Pinkham, Jr. and his uncle, Silas Gardner came to Cape Porpoise from Nantucket in 1801. They had the two-story square house built on Pier Road that still stands today. Paul’s son, Silas Gardner Pinkham, married Daniel Grant’s daughter Emily. In 1843, Silas was captain of a cod fishing schooner named The James and Henry....

Famous early aviator, Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo transatlantic flight on May 21, 1927. The handsome pilot of The Spirit of St. Louis, became world-famous, overnight. Along with fame came public adoration and the omnipresent paparazzi. Lindbergh asked Ann Morrow to marry him in 1929. The world braced for a celebrity wedding. By...

Sharks were sighted last week off Goose Rocks Beach and off Gooch’s Beach. It made me wonder if we had any history of fatal shark attacks in the Kennebunks. I didn’t find any instances of sharks killing people here but lots of accounts of people killing sharks. An 8-foot “maneater” was captured off shore at...

Jane Morgan’s beautiful old farmhouse on North Street has been sold. I attended the yard sale there last weekend to pick up something to remind me of Jane. I have written about her role at the Kennebunkport Playhouse several times. I thought this might be a good time to share some Blueberry Hill Farm history....

Eighty-eight shipmasters and mates from Cape Porpoise, Gloucester, and Boston petitioned the United States Government for a mechanical fog bell to be installed at the Goat Island Light Station. They also wanted a spindle at the sometimes-submerged rocky extremity of Goat Island and a tripod marking the other side of the entrance on Folly Island....