Kennebunk, whose Native American name means “long cut bank,” likely took its name from Great Hill at the mouth of the Mousam River, an important landmark for coastal travelers in ocean-going canoes. Archaeological excavations indicate that PaleoIndian hunters traveled here seasonally from as early as 11,000 years ago. European fishermen arrived during the sixteenth century but did not settle, and exploration followed with Bartholomew Gosnold’s landfall on the coast of Maine in 1602, Martin Pring’s exploration of the mouth of the Kennebunk River in 1603, and Samuel de Champlain’s visit to Cape Porpoise harbor in 1604, which he named “Le Port aux Isles.” A 1610 map for London’s Virginia Company clearly showed Cape Porpoise. Kennebunk remained part of Wells until 1820, and one of the first permanent settlers in Wells was John Sanders, who built a home near the mouth of the Mousam River around 1640. Hostilities between the indigenous Abenaki people and European settlers began, and by 1690 most settlers were temporarily driven out; the uprisings continued until 1760. By 1750, a large permanent settlement was established on the Mousam River at the Larrabee Garrison, and development of Kennebunk Landing, Alewive, and other areas soon followed. With abundant local timber, sawmills and shipyards sprang up on both the Mousam and Kennebunk Rivers. Between 1755 and 1918, shipbuilding was Kennebunk’s principal industry, while the Mousam River also supported grist mills, papermills, twine manufacture, leather-board manufacture, matting factories, and shoe factories. Near the turn of the last century, tourism became the secondary industry as hotels and railroads were built, and it is now the largest industry of the Kennebunks.
