The Oldest Inn in Maine That’s Still Welcoming Guests Today

An Inn in Maine opened well before the United States declared its independence, making it the oldest in Maine and it's still operating to this day.

Seaside Inn, Kennebunk, Maine

The Seaside Inn has a history older than the United States of America. Downeast Magazine, says that The Sea Side Inn has likely occupied the site at 80 Beach Ave, in Kennebunk, since at least 1660. That was just 40 years after the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod! It is also the fifth oldest family-run business in the United States.

Owned by the Same Family For Nearly 400 Years

According to Wikipedia, John Gooch established the Inn, and was commissioned by Ferdinando Gorges, an agent of King Charles II, to "reside on the ocean-front peninsula at the mouth of the Kennebunk River and ferry travelers across the River."

Since then, the Seaside Inn has been in continuous operation by the Gooch family. As of 2018, it had been owned by John Gooch's twelfth-generation descendants. You'd be hard-pressed to find twelve generations of a family running any business these days.

READ MORE: New Hampshire's Oldest Inn Has Been in Business For Over 200 Years

Same Space...Different Buildings

If your family is going to be running an inn for almost 400 years, you're going to need to do some upgrades over time. The Seaside Inn has had several buildings on the site since 1660. The one above is the current building, but you can see what the building that stood here in 1891 looked like on the Maine Memory Network website.

There's also a more detailed history of the Seaside Inn on their website.