Category: History

I’m working on a series of lectures about the history of Kennebunkport. Even though each is about a different part of town I find the research overlapping in interesting ways. The names of some people who lived here before the Europeans temporarily abandoned Cape Porpus in 1689 are still in frequent use today. Turbat’s Creek...

The future of the former Unitarian Church Parsonage at 15 Portland Road in Kennebunk is again in question. I have collected historical information about the house that may be useful to those contemplating its historic value. The Unitarian Society bought a nearly 3-acre lot for a parsonage from Horace Porter in 1833. The house was...

One of the treasures protected by the Kennebunkport Historical Society is a record book kept by Rev. Silas Moody of the covenants, baptisms, marriages, etc. of the Church of Christ in Arundel from 1771-1815. The book went missing for 100 years but was returned in 1915 by a woman who came upon it in Fryeburg,...

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 inspired thousands of fevered fortune hunters to rush there by land and by sea. Fifteen of them were from Kennebunk. The sudden population influx caused a great housing shortage. A handful of Kennebunk entrepreneurs, future West Kennebunk Twine Mill proprietor Robert Waterston Lord, Capt. Wm Lord jr.,...

Pinkham Island in Cape Porpoise Harbor was called Negro Island until about 50 years ago. On some documents, a more offensive name was used. I have read stories about an escaped enslaved person who, after rescuing a local child from drowning, was allowed to reside there on that poison ivy covered rock after the Civil...

Town Planners and Kennebunkport Historical Society (KHS) Officers tried for years to create a Village Historic District to protect our many vulnerable properties, but Port voters repeatedly rejected such local ordinances. Our Bicentennial celebration presented a chance to take a tiny step in that direction. KHS and the Maine State Preservation Commission applied to the...

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. George Washington met with Passamaquoddy citizens of Maine and asked them to fight with him against the British during the American Revolution. In exchange for their support, he made since-broken promises to protect their land rights in an independent America. Indigenous...

Kennebunk Historian William E. Barry did a lot to document our history. I especially appreciate his Historical and Road Map of Kennebunk, ME and Vicinity, that he compiled and drew between 1905 and 1908. It still hangs at the Kennebunk Free Library, thanks to Henry Parsons. Barry was still in the process of making it...

Number 8 Langsford Road in Cape Porpoise is getting a new identity. Farm + Table has closed. Complements, which has been in Dock Square in the Dora’s Beauty Salon building for some forty years, will soon move into the red livery stable building. A grocery store, built in 1867 by Allison B. Huff used to...

What does a Kennebunk Sea Captain killed by pirates have to do with the Monroe Doctrine? Be forewarned, the story is not for the faint of heart. Capt. Clement Perkins, 30 year old grandson of the Thomas Perkins who built the oldest house still standing in Kennebunkport, was familiar with the dangers of sailing to...