Throwback Thursday

I love walking around my neighborhood thinking about the lives of the people who have occupied these old houses in historic Kennebunkport Village. Believe it or not, it’s what I do for fun. Twin houses built during the War of 1812 used to stand on Ocean Avenue between Elm and Chestnut Streets. Cooper Nahum Haley, who had a barrel makers shop across the street, lived in the twin at Chestnut Street. Oliver Davis, a pump and block maker who also had a shop across the street (where my house is now) lived in the twin at the corner of Elm...

Before you read today’s THROWBACK, look at the 4 pictures and take a guess where these columned Greek Revival houses stand in the Kennebunks today and in what order they were built. Master builder Beniah Littlefield built Nathaniel L Thompson’s house at Summer Street in 1842. Shipbuilder N.L. Thompson was a trendsetter. Not only did he set a new standard in opulent home design in the Kennebunks, but he was the first to publicly celebrate Christmas here with a Christmas tree laden with gifts for his children in 1852. Kennebunk diarist, Andrew Walker was at first quite taken aback by...

Seth Emery Bryant was a historical record keeper by vocation and clearly, by nature. Though he was technically from away, the contributions he made to the record of the history of the Kennebunks are immeasurable. Seth Bryant, the eldest son of William M. Bryant and Kennebunkport Perkins family descendant Mary E. Emery, was born in Rochester, MA in 1826 but he came with his family to live in the Kennebunk Lower Village House that is now occupied by Mornings in Paris, at the age of five. As a young adult, he ran a country store, then a stage-line and livery...

Theodore Lyman left his Kennebunk shipyard and mansion for Boston in 1790 never to return, but he continued to influence our maritime history for decades. Theodore’s brother-in-law, Dr. Oliver Keating, occupied the Lyman property as an agent for Theodore until 1799. Lyman then installed his cousins, the Plummer brothers there. The House and shipyard were occupied by shipbuilder John Bourne starting in 1806, after he had married the widow of Captain Israel Wildes. He continued to build Lyman ships, as did his son George W. Bourne and his son-in-law Henry Kingsbury. The Kingsbury family occupied the Lyman mansion into the...

Annie J. Crediford was our first newswoman in the Kennebunks. Born into a Brunwick, Me maritime family, she had traveled the world and lived in Japan before she reached marrying age. Upon her return to Brunswick as a teenager she went to work for the Brunswick Telegraph, learning every aspect of the newspaper business. She did marry Dr. David B. Crediford and had one child in the mid-1890 but her son Richard was still a toddler when his father ran off to California with another woman. Mrs. Crediford was granted a divorce in Kennebunk in 1900. To preserve her reputation,...

Another one of my Kennebunkport history heroes was Julian C. Howard. Born in Boston in 1891, Julian spent his whole life visiting Goose Rocks Beach every summer. He graduated from Harvard in 1913 with a degree in Chemistry but also became a registered surveyor in Massachusetts and Maine. After a long and productive career in his fields he finally became a year-round resident of Kennebunkport after the fire of 1947. In Kennebunkport, Julian served on the Board of Selectmen, surveyed and drew town maps, started the Town Forest, and helped with reforestation after the fire of 47. He also served...

While you are milling about Dock Square this weekend waiting for the Christmas Prelude Tree lights to come on, notice the building now blended into the Brown Block/Colonial Phamacy. It wasn’t always so. The humble old ‘White School,’ almost 70 years older than the Brown Block, has plenty of stories to tell. Samuel Davis built it as a shop in 1809 at the corner of Maine Street and Union Street. He sold the lot and store to General Simon Nowell, who owned the tavern across Union Street from it, the following year. Postmaster and shopkeeper Captain Oliver Bourne kept a...

Shipbuilder Nathaniel Lord Thompson rebuilt the grist mill at the Mousam River Bridge in 1869 when maritime prospects were dim. Around the same time, he built a 2 ½ -story dwelling diagonally across the bridge, perhaps for workforce housing. Gilpatric wrote that the building was a gatehouse over the dam flume, and it did have access to the flume through a trap door in the floor. Diarist Andrew Walker wrote contemporaneously of it, “As a matter of course the accommodations are not fit for a family used to the luxuries in life.” One side of the downstairs became the cigar...

You may think about Cherry Garcia Ice Cream when you look at this house. During my childhood, Port Candy was the center of the universe. This house predates us all by almost 200 years. Thomas Wiswall arrived in Cape Porpoise from Newton, Massachusetts with his family c.1750. They purchased a blockhouse built by Rowlandson Bond on the Kennebunk River. There were only 6 other buildings in Kennebunkport Village by then. Wiswall’s blockhouse stood at what is now the corner of Union Street and Ocean Avenue. According to Kennebunkport History author Charles Bradbury, Wiswall’s wharf was the first one built on...

The oldest Commercial building still standing in Dock Square was the Perkins West Indies Goods Store that currently houses a candle shop and a Tarot Card Reader. It was built around 1775 when Dock Square was the Perkins family’s front yard. That building was originally used to receive molasses and rum from Perkins ships docked behind the building. It was later home to Wheeler & Bell. The building that stands next door is now called Compliments. If you have been around for a while, you may even still call it Dora’s Beauty Salon. You know who you are. That long...

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...

Two members of the Nowell family are of particular interest in the history of Kennebunkport. I have written several articles about Brigadier General Simon Nowell who lived at the corner of Union and Maine Streets across from Graves Library. Simon’s son Captain George W. Nowell is the subject of my story today. He lived in the house that stands next door to the Kennebunkport Post Office. The exterior of their houses haven’t changed much over the years so you will likely recognize them in the old photographs. Unlike his father, George was risk averse. Given his dangerous occupation, he wisely...