Historian’s Halloween
To most historians, the natural world supersedes the “supernatural” in plausibility and interest. That doesn’t mean that historians can’t enjoy Halloween. There is no shortage of ghosts rumored to occupy Kennebunkport’s 18th and 19th Century houses. At least two of those “haunted” houses were also occupied by Samuel Lewis, Jr., the cabinetmaker with one side hustle in ship fitting and another building glass-topped pine coffins for his wealthy deceased neighbors. The house he built on Maine Street still stands next door to the Nott House. His cabinetmaker’s workshop was already in place in March 1805 when the current Maine Street...