Tourists have flocked to the beaches and hotels of the Kennebunks for more than one hundred years. At the dawn of the twentieth century, postcards that showcased the area’s attractions were popular with visitors as mementos and as an inexpensive means of communication. Today, the historic postcards that survive provide a look back at the Kennebunks of an earlier era. The Kennebunks in Season contains almost two hundred postcard images featuring the early hotels and businesses that catered to the tourist trade in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Cape Porpoise, along with the popular local attractions and prominent homes of the area. Also included are rare images of the motel courts that began in the late 1920s along Route 1 from Kennebunk to today’s Arundel, then North Kennebunkport.

The Kennebunksthe phrase evokes peace, ocean breezes and small-town pride. In this captivating collection of vignettes, Kennebunk town historian Kathleen Ostrander reveals another side of the areas allure: its rich and varied past. From an account of the amateur astronomer whose name now graces the Bates College Observatory to the origins of Kennebunks encyclopedic Walker Diaries, Ostrander offers a tour of the areas historical highlights. She notes the mysterious creature once said to live in the Kennebunk River, treasures hidden in fireplaces and under floorboards and the scandalous murder trial of 1866, during which the wife of deceased doctor, drunk, and temperance supporter Charles Swett was imprisoned on the testimony of her own daughter. Through quirky tales and serious sketches, Ostrander offers an affectionate portrait of the Kennebunks sure to charm and inform.

Contains up-to-date information on travel in the state of Maine, with recommendations on lodging, restaurants, regional events, family activities, entertainment, and natural landmarks.

A sweeping, richly illustrated architectural study of the large, historic New England coastal resort hotels

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.