Kennebunkport warms Maine-lovers year round

Those who prefer to stroll with their sweetie will find Kennebunkport a perfect place for walking. The Kennebunkport Historical Society publishes a brochure of walking tours, but many visitors prefer simply to wander through downtown, a national Historic District. Examples of Greek Revival, Colonial, Federal, and gingerbready Victorian architecture show the evolution of the village. In neighboring Kennebunk, the Wedding Cake House at 104 Summer St. is an unusual, maybe even unique, example of late Federal architecture, thickly frosted with Gothic embellishments. Legend has it the original, straightforward hipped-roof brick home, constructed by shipbuilder George W. Bourne in 1826, was soon thereafter garnished with pinnacles, crenellated battlements, elaborate fretwork, and other fripperies. Bourne himself did all the carvings, says the legend, while he was away at sea and pining for the bride he had left before he had a chance to eat his wedding cake.

In fact, around 1852, Bourne seems simply to have decided that the house was too plain and set out to indulge himself after his retirement. First, he built a new wing and a new barn, patterning their elaborate carvings after those in the Milan cathedral that he had admired on trips to Europe.

Perhaps an ''oops" moment took place about then, when he realized the Federal-style house looked a tad odd connected to the Gothic-style barn. Attempting to unify things, he added yards of carved trim to the house, followed quickly by a buttress here, a cornice there, a pierced archway over there, and a large wooden finial to top off the front door.