A thriving shipbuilding industry once operated along the western banks of the Kennebunk River at Kennebunk Landing. Before 1790, most shipbuilding was done on the Mousam River, but in 1790 shipbuilder Tobias Lord began building vessels on the Kennebunk River. Eventually more than a dozen shipyards operated here, taking advantage of an inland location protected from coastal weather and closer to the local timber supply. More than 100 vessels were built here before the site became obsolete in 1874, when demand for larger vessels shifted shipbuilding closer to the ocean at Lower Village Kennebunk and in Kennebunkport, where the water is deeper.
