KENNEBUNK — Did you know the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church houses one of only 23 existing Paul Revere bells? Or that more than 20 ships were built on the Mousam River between 1760 and 1790?
Those facts and many more highlighting the town’s history are now available to anyone who’s interested, through a self-guided walking tour of Kennebunk’s heritage.
On Friday night, as part of the Old Home Week celebrations, town officials launched the Museum in the Streets tour with a ribbon cutting at Rotary Park.
Museum in the Streets is a company that works with local historians to create self-guided walking tours. The company has created tours in the United States and Europe, including Biddeford and other sites in Maine.
The tour in Kennebunk takes walkers through the greater downtown, with 25 stops. Each stop has a panel that details the history of a location, in English and French, and includes historical photos. The panels are made to last at least 10 years, said Town Manager Barry Tibbetts.
Brochures with a map of all the sites are available at downtown businesses, the Kennebunk Free Library, town hall and the Chamber of Commerce. Brochures can also be downloaded at the town’s website, www.kennebunkmaine.us, and smartphone users can scan an app code on the signs.
The total cost of the project was $35,000, said Tibbetts. A grant provided $16,000 of the costs, and the town funded the remainder.
Tibbetts said he’d like to see, in the future, the tour to expand to areas in West Kennebunk and Lower Village. Similar walks in other communities have been quite a draw, he said.
“I’m really excited about this program because this is a chance for us in our community to take our history and heritage and get it out to all ages,” he said.
Tibbetts said the project started about two years ago under then-town historian Kathy Ostrander. He said Ostrander, along with current town historian Stephen Spofford and Brick Store Museum archivist Roz Magnuson, did the research for the project.
Tibbetts said he’s learned a lot about Kennebunk from the new tour, and it adds a different way for people to look at the community.
“I think it’s a great thing,” said Susan Hennessey, who lives in the Titcomb Garrison House, one of the stops in the tour.
She said her house, which was built in 1747, is said to be the oldest standing home in town. She and her husband wanted to live in Kennebunk because they wanted an old home, she said, and bought the house about 35 years ago. Hennessey said her husband has done a lot of research on the house and gave input on the panel representing their house.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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