Kennebunkport, Maine
Kennebunkport /ˌkɛniˈbʌŋkˌpɔːrt/ is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census.[2] It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford metropolitan statistical area.
Kennebunkport, Maine
United States
July 5, 1653
Laurie Smith
Shelia Matthews-Bull
Edward W. Hutchins
Jon Dykstra
D. Michael Weston
Allen A. Daggett
18.6 sq mi (48 km2)
26 ft (8 m)
3,629
195.1/sq mi (75.3/km2)
UTC-4 (EDT)
23-36745
0582540
The town center, the area in and around Dock Square, is located along the Kennebunk River, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from the mouth of the river on the Atlantic Ocean. Historically a shipbuilding and fishing village, for well over a century the town has been a popular summer colony and seaside tourist destination. The Dock Square area has a district of souvenir shops, art galleries, schooner attractions, seafood restaurants, and bed and breakfasts. Cape Porpoise, while retaining its identity as a fishing harbor, has a very small village area with several restaurants, a church, grocery store, coffee shop, small library, and art gallery. Kennebunkport has a reputation as a summer haven for the upper class and is one of the wealthiest communities in the state of Maine. The Municipality of Kennebunkport includes the constituent villages of Kennebunkport Village, Cape Arundel & Colony Beach, the Cottage Coast, Wilde's District (Wildwood), Goose Rocks Beach, Turbatts Creek, Cape Porpoise Village, North Village Crossing (Townhouse Corner), among various other newer developments. The town is the home of Walker's Point, a summer estate of the Bush family.
Kennebunkport and neighboring towns Kennebunk and Arundel comprise school district RSU 21.[3]
The Kennebunkport Christmas Prelude takes place annually in the town, beginning either in late November or early December.
History[edit]
Kennebunkport was first incorporated in 1653 as Cape Porpus, subject to the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise). Due to Abenaki Indian resistance to colonial expansion, European settlers abandoned the town by 1689 and did not return for at least ten years. The Wabanaki Confederacy again expelled English from the area from 1703 to 1717, and continued violent resistance to colonization until the end of King George's War in 1748.[4]
The town was renamed Arundel, and the town center located inland at Burbank Hill. In 1821 the town was renamed again, this time to Kennebunkport in reflection to its economy becoming one of shipbuilding and trade along the Kennebunk River.[5]
By the 1870s the town had developed as a popular summer destination, with both hotels and homes constructed along its coastline. Cape Arundel, Cape Porpoise, and Beachwood (now called Goose Rocks) were some of the early summer colonies; although Cape Porpoise was, and still is, a working fishing harbor. Since 1939, Kennebunkport has been home to the Seashore Trolley Museum.
The Great Fires of 1947, which devastated much of York County, affected Kennebunkport and especially the area near Goose Rocks Beach. Much of the housing near Goose Rocks Beach was destroyed by the fire, but the area has since recovered and been rebuilt.[6]
Geology[edit]
Like much of the northeast coast, the geography of the southern Maine coast was largely directed by the retreat of the Laurentide ice cap about 23,000 years ago.[7] The coast is framed by bedrock, left during the formation of the Appalachian mountains, and the irregular shape of the coast (characteristic of much of the New England coast, with the exception of Cape Cod and the islands) is attributed to differential erosion of the underlying rock layer.
The coast along Kennebunkport differs sharply from the Maine coast north and east of Portland due to differences in the composition of this rock layer. Beyond Portland, the layer is a largely metamorphic rock, but here the coast is a mixture of igneous rock, and embayments of more deeply eroded sedimentary and metamorphic rock. These embayments result in the sandy beaches that can be found in southern Maine (such as Goose Rocks Beach, Colony Beach, and nearby Kennebunk Beach) but are uncommon north of Portland. Likewise, the geology here differs from that of the outer lands (Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, Block Island in Rhode Island, and Long Island in New York), which were formed as terminal and recessional moraines, and do not contain much in the way of a bedrock skeleton.[8]
South Congregational Church
The harbor
Businesses on Ocean Avenue
View of Dock Square
Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library
Kennebunkport welcome sign and town line, in 2008
In popular culture[edit]
Kennebunkport was featured in the 2003 filming of the film Empire Falls by Maine author Richard Russo, with a downtown book shop making a notable appearance. Robin Wright appeared on set in Kennebunkport.[18]
Other films with scenes shot in Kennebunkport include Lost Boundaries (1949), The Man Who Knew Bush (2004 documentary), The Living Wake (2007), 41 (2012 documentary) and US Route 1-ME (2012). My Husband's Double Life was partially set in the town, but filmed in Toronto.[19][20]