To experience Maine’s true charm visit The Kennebunks. We are just a short drive from several major airports: 90 minutes north from the Logan Airport in Boston, MA and from the Manchester Airport in NH and 30 minutes south of the Portland Jetport in ME. Amtrak now offers service from Boston to our door step in Wells.

In our beautiful coastal villages—Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Cape Porpoise, Goose Rocks Beach and Arundel—you’ll breathe in the beauty of the Maine coast along with the bracing salt air.

Downtown Kennebunk - Kennebunk is the kind of town you think of when talk turns to town meetings and government at the local level. While some of our most venerable traditions continue today, downtown Kennebunk is a seamless melding of history and contemporary living. Visit our vital and active business district. You'll find some of the areas most interesting shops. Fine restaurants line Main Street as do handsome buildings of great historic and architectural note. Kennebunk has the kind of downtown that invites a leisurely stroll, a bit of shopping, a stop for lunch, and a look back at history with a visit to the Brick Store Museum. A walking tour of downtown is a must for anyone with an eye for architecture and an ear for history. Let us introduce you to more than two dozen sites, all within Kennebunks National Register Historic District.

You'll see the evolution of architectural styles — Colonial, Federal, Queen Anne, Greek Revival and Italianate — in churches and houses built from the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s. You'll see the church where a bell cast by Paul Revere and Sons hangs; you'll tour the homes of ship captains and shipbuilders. In all, you'll be hard pressed to find a more diverse, beautiful and fascinating downtown in all of Maine.

Kennebunkport - Dock Square & Lower Village: Picturesque Dock Square is in the heart of Kennebunkport village. Dock Square, which overlooks the Kennebunk River basin, has been a thriving commercial center for nearly two centuries.

Once stocked with wares for the local shipbuilders and seagoing traders, the historic, waterside buildings of Dock Square now house an array of fine gift shops, boutiques, art galleries and restaurants. After a day of shopping, dining and browsing, visitors enjoy strolling the surrounding tree-lined streets of the village with its outstanding examples of Federal-style and Greek Revival architecture.
In the center of the square stands a monument, a memorial to “our soldiers and sailors,” encircled with flowers from May through October. Here, former President George Bush, whose summer home is nearby on Ocean Avenue sometimes makes an appearance at Memorial Day ceremonies. During the annual Christmas Prelude festivities, a tall evergreen tree, adorned with brightly painted lobster pot buoys, accompanies the monument as the centerpiece of Dock square.

In his 1930 novel Mirthful Haven, Kennebunkport summer resident Booth Tarkington, calls the square “Cargo Square.” Today, a popular guidebook describes the Dock Square area as “one of the liveliest summer spots on the New England coast.”

The scenic and festive atmosphere continues just across the Kennebunk River in Lower Village, the waterfront region of the town of Kennebunk. Here, too during the Golden Age of sailing ships in world trade, the river banks teemed with the industry of shipbuilders. Four-riggers, schooners and clipper ships once slid down the ways of the shipyards along the river and its tidal basin.

Here, too, the buildings and sites of that era have been revitalized. Boutiques, gift shops, galleries and dining for every taste abound in the scenic community of Lower Village, which like neighboring Kennebunkport, hosts thousands of visitors each year.

Marinas along the river offer a variety of water excursion activities—whale watching, deep sea fishing and sight-seeing. The bustling harbor, with its variety of commercial and pleasure craft, is fun to watch and to photograph from the vantage points of waterfront restaurants, the unique turntable drawbridge and scenic walkways.

Cape Porpoise The town of Kennebunkport has two waterfronts: Downtown Kennebunkport, and about three miles to the east, Cape Porpoise. “The Cape,” as the locals call it, is an authentic working fishing village where the traditional work of seacoast Maine is carried on.

Cape Porpoise was first discovered and named by Captain John Smith, who landed settlers here in the 1600s. Today, it’s a traditional “old Maine” port with its pier, lighthouse and fishing fleet; and because the harbor offers shelter and security, it is a favorite stop over for yachtsmen and boaters cruising the coast of Maine.

What does The Cape offer you? It is a chance to experience a very special place. You can walk the pier and enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the harbor. You can admire the view of the lighthouse on Goat Island and watch the lobstermen unloading their catch. It’s a scene set to the music of the sea the gruff rumble of boat engines, the soft swish of waves, the wheeling and crying of the gulls overhead.

As you might expect, the restaurants in Cape Porpoise are known for their fabulous seafood. Local businesses, the country grocery store, the fish market, the shops, galleries and lodgings, all reflect the strength and character of the people of this quiet seaside village.

Goose Rocks is a quiet village at waters edge with a long sweep of sandy beach, just east of Cape Porpoise.

Arundel is just north of Kennebunk and features many antique shops and is the home of a great summer playhouse.