Category: History

Captain Daniel Webster Dudley was a globe-circumnavigating sea captain that lived on Elm Street in Kennebunkport from 1849 until 1929. In his time, the house was like a museum of treasures he acquired on his sea voyages to China, Japan, Java, New Guinea, New Ireland, the Soloman Islands, etc.. Captain Dudley commanded many vessels but...

You may have heard of the shipwrecked barque Horace, the remains of which still occasionally make an appearance at very low tide near Lord’s Point. This week, while searching the archives for documents relating to the Eliphalet Perkins family of Kennebunkport who built the Nott House, I came across a contemporaneous handwritten letter that brought...

You may remember my earlier story about the Kennebunk Beach Branch of the B&M Railroad. It ran from the Kennebunk Depot Road Station off Summer Street, down what we now think of as the bridle path along the eastern bank of the Mousam River to the Parsons Beach Station, across the Sea Road to the...

Labor Day Weekend 2024 is upon us. What does that mean to you? For many years Labor Day marked the end of the summer season at tourist destinations like our towns. But that isn’t what it was established to commemorate. Labor Day, organized by the Central Labor Union was first celebrated in this country in...

I have recently posted the histories of the Old Fort Inn and Breakwater Court (now The Colony). They were both designed by architect Henry Paston Clark for hotelman, Reuel W. Norton. By the time he died unexpectedly in 1924, Reuel Norton also owned a winter hotel in Florence Villa, Florida at which he employed a...

The old house in the foreground was still at 26 Summer Street in Kennebunk when this first photograph was taken. You might recognize the Taylor Barry House in the background. The old colonial had originally been built on Main Street by Theodore Lyman in 1770 as a store. Theodore Lyman worked for wealthy Shipbuilder Waldo...

Long-time Kennebunkport hotelman, Reuel W. Norton had the Old Fort Inn designed by Architects Henry Paston Clark and John Russel in 1901.Builder Alphonse Allen promised it would be finished in time to accept guests for the 1902 season. The Old Fort Inn opened for business in June 1902, as promised. The hotel was named after...

Want to learn more about the Kennebunkport Dump Parade? Join us at White Columns (under the tent) on August 4th: Visit with Sharon Cummins and learn more about the famous 1970s Dump Parade in Kennebunkport. Slide show, archival items, and ice cream! $15 for Non-Members $12 for Members We hope to see you there! Click...

If you ask to see the Yeoman Cottage at Cape Arundel, you might be shown three different houses. They are also known as Inglesea, The Rocks, and the Yoeman-Powers Cottage. Inglesea Cottage, which still stands at the corner of Ocean Ave and Haverhill has erroneously been attributed to Joseph Yeoman but neither he nor his...

These photos were all taken during the third and fourth week in July 1926. They were pasted into a little vacation album that was found years ago in a Florida attic. The dates caught my eye. Something was amiss with the cosmos during the third week of July 1926. The temperature hovered near 100 degrees...