Throwback Thursday

On this the fourth Thursday of May, I am acutely aware that my dear friend, Frank W. Handlen has been gone a whole year. Frank was a gifted marine artist, a shipbuilder, and a sculptor in heroic scale. His Kennebunkport legacy is all around us. You might remember when he launched his handmade ferro cement 40-foot topsail schooner, Salt Wind in May of 1975. Perhaps you were there in 1995 when he unveiled his heroic size statue, Our Forebears of the Coast, on the Village Green to honor our Kennebunkport fishermen and their families. The fact that this season we...

The Spirit of Massachusetts has been hauled out of the Kennebunk River to a berth on the lot near the new Pilot House Restaurant in Lower Village Kennebunk and reportedly will be accessible from the eatery. The Spirit was modeled after an 1889 Gloucester fishing schooner designed by Edward Burgess and built by Moses Adams of Essex, MA. Boston tycoon J. Malcom Forbes was intrigued by her design. While she was being built, he purchased the vessel and named her The Fredonia. Forbes had her bottom coppered and fitted her out for use as a pleasure yacht before taking her...

Join me in wishing our own Jane Morgan a wonderful birthday. The talented and beautiful sister of Kennebunkport Playhouse founder Robert Currier turned 100 years old on May 3, 2024. Florence “Flossie” Currier grew up at the Kennebunkport Playhouse. She worked in the box office, helped out as Treasurer, and often made appearances on stage. When she was just 11 years old, she appeared in two roles in the melodrama, “Murder in the Red Barn.” Florence studied music at Julliard before traveling to Paris to emerge as an international singing sensation. In 1955, she returned to the Kennebunkport stage with...

Every year at this time, I start getting inquiries about the history of Strawberry Island. When I was reading through the August 8, 1923 issue of Turn O’ the Tide the other day, looking for something else, of course, I came across an article about Strawberry Island titled, OH, YES, THEY HAVE NO STRAWBERRIES BUT LEGENDS APLENTY AT KENNEBUNK BEACH “In the old days there was a house on it, which has long since been destroyed. The barn and the shed still remain.” Wait a minute, thought I, some people I have spoken to in the last 20 years still...

My favorite photographic collections at the Kennebunkport Historical Society are the ones that include pictures from all over Kennebunkport taken around the same time. This collection transports us to Kennebunkport Village in 1901. Let’s follow the year-old trolley tracks into Dock Square, (picture #1) past the equine iron drinking fountain. The street approaching the bridge feels grand to old-timers. It was widened by six feet in 1897 when the new swivel bridge was installed. Watch out for the bicycle rider in front of Norton’s Confectionary! (Picture #2) The first Norton House hotel and restaurant burned to the ground eight years...

The Nott House, aka White Columns on Maine Street, was donated to The Kennebunkport Historical Society in 1981 by Elizabeth Nott, who asked that it be referred to as the Richard A. Nott House in memory of her brother. You may remember from a previous Throwback Thursday that the Greek Revival mansion was built for Charles E. Perkins and Celia Nott Perkins when they married in 1853. Both of their children died young. After Celia died, Charles married her sister, Lydia Nott. Lydia Nott Perkins inherited the homestead overlooking Dock Square. She shared it with her single niece, Celia (Ce...

The maritime history of the Kennebunks has been a subject of great interest to me since I started researching it 24 years ago. One of my favorite local sources of reliable information is the 1937 book, ‘Captain Nathaniel Lord Thompson and the Ships he Built’ by Captain Thompson’s bodacious daughter, Margaret Jefferds Thompson. Margaret was born in the family home on Summer Street in Kennebunk during the Civil War. She remained single all her life, which was unusual in her day, but perhaps slightly more common among women of means. Margaret resided with her brother Nathaniel’s family for a while,...

Architect, Henry Paston Clark had a significant influence on the character of Cape Arundel. His “Shingle-style Cottage” designs were cutting edge in his day and were often reviewed in “American Architect and Building News, the definitive architectural journal at the turn of the century. Although he lived in Boston for most of his life, H.P. Clark had family ties to the Kennebunks. His Grandfather was the Henry Clark who ran the ropewalk and the rigging loft on Ocean Ave from 1811 until he sold it to Thomas Maling around 1840. The Architect’s great uncle was the first Collector of Customs...

The American Legion Dance went late and loud at Kennebunk Town Hall on March 18, 1920. After the revelers finally retreated, Miss Edna Hubbard, a house guest at the neighboring home of George and Sylvia Cousens, finally drifted off to sleep, but she was startled awake again at about 4:30 A.M. by the sound of shattering glass. Springing from her bed, she was astounded to see the lower level of Town Hall engulfed in flames. Her host, George Cousens dashed across to box 38 at the corner of Main and Fletcher Streets to sound the fire alarm to rouse Fire...

Bertha Smith was born in Kennebunkport before the Civil War, to Horace and Mary A. Murphy Smith. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1881 and taught in local schools during the 1890s. Miss Bertha Smith, Mrs. Gertrude Hanson, Mrs. Hope Littlefield and Miss Annie Merrill went for a ride together on their bicycles. On their way home they stopped near the Iron Bridge school house and had lunch. Bertha finished first and was up gathering flowers in the field for her botany pupil, Louise Wheeler. The ladies started talking as they watched and decided that they too wanted to...

I have been thinking a lot this month about the admirable women I have encountered studying the history of Kennebunkport. I first learned about Annie Peabody Brooks when I read her vivid description of the old Rope Walk that used to run along where Ocean Ave now passes the Old River House. The story appeared in Ropes Ends TRADITIONS, LEGENDS AND SKETCHES OF OLD KENNEBUNKPORT AND VICINITY, published by Annie in 1901. This little book is liberally illustrated with old photographs of Kennebunkport. I have shared some of those photos here today and linked to a digital copy of Annie’s...

Daniel Dow (1828-1878) of Newton, MA built the first summer cottage at Goose Rocks in 1865 on land owned by Kennebunkport farmer, Elbridge Proctor. Daniel’s son Francis (1859-1936) spent his childhood summers soaking in the raw natural beauty of the remote place. He was already 11 years old when the first hotel, The Goose Rocks House, was built in 1870 at the east end of the beach. That was about when Daniel’s younger brother Orlando (1841-1932) joined them at Goose Rocks as a young adult. Francis (Frank) Asbury Dow grew up to be a well-known photographer in Concord, New Hampshire....