HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Kennebunkport's oldest existing hotel, open since the Fourth of July 1884
95 Ocean Avenue, Kennebunkport, ME 04046
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Seasonal room rates; resort open spring through fall. Dining and activities priced separately.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Multi-building resort on Ocean Avenue with paved walkways and stairs in the historic main house
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1884 · Oldest Existing Hotel in Kennebunkport · Gilded Age Coastal Resort · Colonial Revival Architecture
Captain Henry Heckman built the Nonantum on Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport and opened it on the Fourth of July, 1884. The name comes from a Native American word the resort translates as "blessing" or "prayer." The hotel began with 26 rooms and a staff of ten, serving the wave of upper- and middle-class families who came to coastal Maine by train for extended summer stays.
The business succeeded quickly. By 1894 Heckman had doubled the hotel's size. Originally built in a fairly modest late Italianate style, the building was reworked during the 1890s with Colonial Revival detailing, including pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals and decorative cartouches, much of which has since been altered or removed.
The Nonantum is consistently described as Kennebunkport's oldest existing hotel. It now operates as a family-owned resort with more than 100 rooms across several buildings, along with riverside dining and a marina on the Kennebunk River. The original 1884 main house remains the core of the property and the focus of its ghost stories.
Sources
The Nonantum's reputation rests on small, repeated incidents reported over many years rather than a single dramatic story. The most common account is the sensation of being watched, described most often during the off-season when few staff remain in the building.
Guests and employees have reported doors slamming on their own, lights switching on in unoccupied rooms, and voices drifting from rooms no one is staying in. During the season, workers at the front desk say they have watched the heavy entranceway doors swing open and closed on their own, as though admitting guests who never appear.
No named ghost is firmly attached to the building in the public accounts, and the resort does not market the activity as a scare attraction. The stories circulate in regional haunted-Maine coverage and on local ghost-walk itineraries, which note the building's 1884 origins and its long run as the town's oldest hotel as the backdrop for the reports.
Book a room at the historic main house, which dates to 1884. Staff and guests have reported the heavy entrance doors swinging open on their own, lights switching on in empty rooms, and the sensation of being watched, most often in the quieter off-season.
The resort operates riverside dining and a marina along Ocean Avenue, open to guests and the public during the season.
See current room rates and availability at The Nonantum Resort.
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