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The Kennebunks By Nancy and Richard Woodworth For many, the small coastal area known as the Kennebunk Region has the most and best of everything in Maine: the best beaches, the most inns, the best shops, the most eating places, the best scenery, the most tourist attractions, the best galleries, the most diverse appeal. It also has a starring role as the summer home of George Bush, a visible figure around town. All have combined to produce what some old-timers see as overkill. Concerned over a gradual deterioration in the century-old traditions of one of Maine’s earliest summer havens for the wealthy, local leaders have embarked on a campaign to preserve the town’s character. The Kennebunks offer a case study in town character. Actually, there are at least three Kennebunks. One is the town of Kennebunk and its inland commercial center, historic Kennebunk. The second is Kennebunkport, the changing coastal resort community that draws the tourists. A third represents Cape Arundel, Cape Porpoise and Goose Rocks Beach, whose rugged coastal aspects remain largely unchanged by development in recent years. Even before George Bush’s election as president, Kennebunkport and its Dock Square and Lower Village shopping areas had become so congested that a bus started shuttling visitors from vast parking areas on the edge of town. Although some of the luster faded after its favorite son left the White House, visitors still are drawn much as they are by the Kennedy name to Hyannis Port. The streets here teem on summer evenings with strollers who have spent the day at the beach. And yet you can escape: walk along Parson’s Way; drive out Ocean Avenue past Spouting Rock and the Bush estate at Walker Point and around Cape Arundel to Cape Porpoise, a working fishing village; bicycle out Beach Avenue to Lord’s Point or Strawberry Island; visit the Rachel Carson Wildlife Preserve; savor times gone by among the historic homes of Summer Street in Kennebunk or along the beach at Goose Rocks. One of the charms of the Kennebunks is that the crowded restaurants and galleries co-exist with events like the annual Unitarian Church blueberry festival and the Rotary chicken barbecue, and the solitude of Parson’s Way. Watercolorist Edgar Whitney proclaimed the Kennebunks "the best ten square miles of painting areas in the nation." Explore a bit and you’ll see why. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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