12 Aug – Cycling around the Kennebunks

Opus
Bridget & Nick Gray
Tue 12 Aug 2014 17:59

The fog descended again this morning but cleared sufficiently by lunchtime so we set off on the bikes.

Kennebunk, first settled in 1621, is the Abenaki indian word for ‘the long cut bank’ assumed to be an area behind one of the beaches here. There is also a Kennebunkport, smaller and nearer to Cape Porpoise where we are – collectively known as the Kennebunks. Our 20 mile cycle included Kennebunkport with its fish atop one of the churches, many more art galleries including this one with its copper windvanes, and its port!


We then went on to Kennebunk to see ‘The Wedding Cake House’, apparently the most photographed house in Maine. It was built in 1825 by shipbuilder George Bourne who had been impressed by the Gothic beauty of the cathedral at Milan. The local decorator that we asked directions from described it dismissively as ‘just a house with bits stuck on it’!!


Kennebunk is one of the most expensive places to live in the US, with many of the large houses just summer residences for the wealthy. Nice, but too close to the main road for our tastes though! 


One not on the road belongs to the Bush family who live on a small peninsular complete with a Secret Service guardroom at the gate. Difficult to see in the photo, but they get points for having their own small wind turbine.


Last stop, the very popular restaurants on the dock at Cape Porpoise.


 

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