Cape Porpoise, Maine is a small coastal village in the town of

Kennebunkport Kennebunkport is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford metropolitan statistical area. The town center, the are ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and was the original English settlement of the town. It is northeast of Dock Square and southwest of Goose Rocks Beach. The village occupies the mainland adjacent to Cape Porpoise Harbor. More than a dozen islands protect the deep natural harbor. The ZIP Code for Cape Porpoise is 04014.

Goat Island Light Goat Island Light is a lighthouse located off Cape Porpoise near Kennebunkport in southern Maine. Goat Island Light was established in 1835 to guard the entrance to Cape Porpoise Harbor. The original station was upgraded in 1859 to the current ...

marks the harbor entrance between Goat and Folly islands.

History

The area now known as Cape Porpoise was occupied by communities of the

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

people when Europeans first made contact in 1602. The primary settlement in the area was Sowocatuck, at the mouth of the Saco River, occupied by the Sokoki band of Abenakis. Cape Porpoise was named by explorer

Captain John Smith John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first pe ...

in 1614 during his exploration of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. English fishermen began making seasonal residences in the area beginning about 1619 until a year-round European settlement was established in 1629, based on a land grant from the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

. The town was incorporated as "Cape Porpus" under the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1653. During

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...

in 1689, Indians forced the settlers off the mainland and onto Stage Island until rescued by the English. English settlers abandoned the town until 1699. The

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...

, which had been created among Abenaki to resist English encroachment, had prevailed in the northern theater of King William's War and continued to push for the removal of European settlers from the area after that war ended: Indians drove settlers away from Cape Porpoise in 1703 until their return in 1717 and made further attacks against settlers in 1723-1727. Active hostilities only stopped when

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the Indians military ally, ceded southern Maine to England after King George's War. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, on August 8, 1782, the English 16-gun brig ''Meriam'' and the schooner ''Hammond'' entered the harbor and attempted to take a schooner and sloop as prizes. The English took the schooner but ran the sloop aground. The town militia had assembled and fired shore

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s and muskets at the English. The English burned the sloop and then returned to their brig but couldn't escape the harbor because of a growing southern breeze. Over the next few hours, the English towed and warped the brig out of the harbor under musket and cannon fire even as they tried to return gun fire. All combined, more than 20 men were killed during the battle, including Captain James Burnham, one of the town leaders, and the only American casualty.Melville Chase Freeman, ''History of Cape Porpoise'', 1955 In July 2010, singer

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

filmed the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for her hit single " Mine" here. She filmed parts of the video in the popular Wayfarer restaurant, The Captain's restaurant, and in a local river.

Geography

The village is located on State Highway 9.

References

External links

Town of Kennebunkport, Maine

Cape Porpoise Library
{{Coord, 43, 22, 21, N, 70, 26, 17, W, type:city_region:US-ME, display=title Kennebunkport, Maine Villages in York County, Maine Abenaki

History

Geography

References

Further reading

External links