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Cape Porpoise 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 area. The town center, the area in and around Dock Squa ...
,
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, United States, and was the original English settlement of the town. It is located 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 marks the harbor entrance between Goat and Folly islands.


History

Archeological evidence exists of activity in the area now known as Cape Porpoise 7000 years ago. In 1602, the time of contact with Europeans, it was occupied by communities of the
Almouchiquois The Pennacook, also known by the names Penacook and Pennacock, were Algonquian Indigenous people who lived in what is now Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. They were not a united tribe but a network of politically and culturally ...
people, who referred to the area as Nampscoscocke and had settlements at Gooch's Beach and Great Hill in Kennebunk 3 miles south of Cape Porpoise. According to 1640 land records, a sagamore of that community was Thomas Chabinock. Cape Porpoise was named by explorer
Captain John Smith John Smith ( – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, admiral of New England, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely. Followin ...
in 1614 during his exploration of
New England New England is a region consisting of 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 ...
. 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 spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...
. The town was incorporated as "Cape Porpus" under the government of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
in 1653. The Europeans cut or thinned forested areas, to support their agriculture and forest economy, which undermined the hunting and pastoral livelihoods of Indian communities. This led to conflict. 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 Allian ...
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"; also: Wabanakia, "Dawnland") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal Eastern Algonquian nations ...
, 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the Indians military ally, ceded southern Maine to England after
King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in ...
. 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, on August 8, 1782, the English 16-gun
brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...
''Meriam'' and the
schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
''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 during th ...
s and
musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...
s 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. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...
filmed the
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
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


Further reading

* History of Kennebunkport by Charles Bradbury, 1837


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 in the United States