Category: History

The bridge that connects Kennebunk Lower Village to Dock Square Kennebunkport has been rebuilt several times. During a freshet on March 1, 1896, the old wooden drawbridge collapsed with a loud crash when big chunks of ice rushing downriver with the violent ebb tide cut through its supporting pilings.The need for safe and attractive vehicle...

I always assumed that women were gradually, if begrudgingly allowed to play golf with the men as the sport became popular in the Kennebunks but one lesson historical research has to teach me over and over is, never assume. Sarah Bancroft, seen in the first picture showing her Swedish Coachman how to drive, was a...

Kennebunkport and Kennebunk historians do not agree on the date Durrell’s Bridge was built. In his 1837, History of Kennebunkport, Charles Bradbury wrote that Durrell’s Bridge was built before 1751. Indeed, a 1751 entry in the first Arundel Town Book refers to Bartlett’s bridge as the upper bridge over the Kennebunk River implying that a...

The old adage, “History is all around us” rings true here in Kennebunkport. If we are at the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library on Maine Street, it is literally embedded in the walls. I have written about the Kennebunk Bank for which the brick building was erected in 1813. Observant Library patrons can still...

Places hold memories for the ages. If I show you this c.1965 picture of the Olde Grist Mill, a delicious Indian Pudding might spring to mind or maybe your first job waiting tables. You probably won’t reminisce about riding in a horse drawn wagon full of corn harvested from your family fields, on your way...

The most beautiful stop for paddlers on the Kennebunk River is Picnic Rocks. It has been so for at least 150 years but a few times it came this close to being split up for development. Thank goodness, preservation-minded individuals stepped up just in time. Cape Arundel Cottagers made Picnic Rocks a popular canoeing destination...

The history of Kennebunkport during the early 19th Century can be told through the experiences of Brigadier General Simon Nowell because he had a piece of most everything… until he didn’t. Simon Nowell, born in York, ME in 1779, first came to the Kennebunks as a live-in apprentice for the Kennebunk Landing baker, Mr. Brookings....

The Kennebunkport Inn lot has been through many changes since Ephraim Perkins built a family home overlooking Dock Square around 1800. At that time, the property extended all the way to the Kennebunk River. There wasn’t yet a bridge into Lower Village and except for Ephraim’s own wharf and store, there were no neighboring businesses....

Last week’s Throwback Thursday featured the c.1724 Thomas Perkins House, the oldest house in Kennebunkport Village. This week, the oldest commercial building still standing in the village is our focus. The Eliphalet Perkins wharf and store were built c.1775 for the West Indies trade. Perkins ships carried Arundel fish and lumber to the West Indies...