Perkins Cove

{{Short description|Coastal village in Ogunquit, Maine}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Perkins Cove, Maine

|settlement_type = Village

|image_skyline = File:Perkins Cove 2.JPG

|imagesize =

|image_caption = View from Perkins Cove Drawbridge

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|pushpin_map = Maine#USA

|pushpin_label = Perkins Cove

|pushpin_label_position = right

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|coordinates = {{coord|43|14|12.3|N|70|35|24.7|W|region:US-ME|display=inline,title}}

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Maine

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = York

|subdivision_type3 = Town

|subdivision_name3 = Ogunquit

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|timezone = Eastern (EST)

|utc_offset = -5

|timezone_DST = EDT

|utc_offset_DST = -4

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|postal_code_type = ZIP Code

|postal_code = 03907

|area_codes = 207

|blank_name = GNIS feature ID

|blank_info = 573203{{Cite gnis|573203|Perkins Cove}}

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File:Perkins Cove Sign - Ogunquit, Maine.jpg

Perkins Cove is a small harbor bay and fishing village in the town of Ogunquit in York County, Maine, United States.

History

English fishermen first began settling here in the 1620s. Prior to this, the land had been home to the Native Abenaki peoples.{{cite web|url=https://www.bu.edu/articles/2008/day-tripping-12-hours-in-ogunquit-maine/|title=Day Tripping: 12 Hours in Ogunquit, Maine|last=Waltz|first=Vicky|date=August 4, 2008|publisher=Boston University Today|access-date=August 21, 2023}}

File:Charles Herbert Woodbury03.jpg

In the early years of the European settlement, the area was most commonly referred to as Fish Cove{{cite book|title=Moon: Maine, Vermont & New Hampshire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XDQ4DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22fish+cove%22+%22perkins+cove%22&pg=PT233|last=Smith|first=Jen Rose|year=2018|publisher=Hachette Book Group|access-date=August 19, 2023}} or simply "the cove". It wouldn't be until the late 1800s that the name Perkins Cove would be adopted. The Perkins family, one of the earliest seafaring families in the cove, ran a boardinghouse called the "Perkins Cove House" and from that the name was derived.{{cite book|title=Then & Now: Ogunquit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYN3jBvhXRgC|last1=Severson|first1=Kathryn M.|last2=Meffert|first2=Susan Day|last3=Natoli|first3=Marie D.|year=2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|page=ix|access-date=August 19, 2023}}

At the very end of the nineteenth century, Perkins Cove would begin its transformation into a thriving artist colony. It was at this time that painter Charles Woodbury founded his highly regarded art school, drawing in an influx of artists. By 1911, Hamilton Easter Field would also establish a summer art school here, converting old fish shacks into art studios and rentals.{{cite web|url=https://streamlinepublishing.com/inside-art/the-ogunquit-art-colony-a-plein-air-paradise/|title=The Ogunquit Art Colony: A Plein Air Paradise|last=Volpe|first=Christopher|date=November 21, 2022|publisher=Streamline Publishing|access-date=August 19, 2023}} The contributions of both men were instrumental in the development of Ogunquit, not only as a flourishing artist hub, but also as a beloved vacation destination.{{cite web|url=https://ogunquitmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/73599-OMAA_OgunquitArtWalkRev3_PROOF.pdf|title=OGUNQUIT, MAINE - A FOCAL POINT FOR AMERICAN MODERNISM|publisher=Ogunquit Museum of American Art|access-date=August 21, 2023}}

Geography

File:Marginal Way, Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, ME.jpg

The village of Perkins Cove is located on a peninsula, situated between the anchorage basin at the mouth of the Josias River and Oarweed Cove. The Basin, as it is known today, did not exist prior to 1880. It is a man-made inlet, created by digging out a channel between what was formerly Flat Pond and the Gulf of Maine. This provided a shelter for the fishermen to anchor their dories.{{cite web|url=https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/york-star/2008/08/21/perkins-cove-result-patience-persistence/52295563007/|title=Perkins Cove: Result of patience and persistence|last=Cummins|first=Sharon|date=August 21, 2008|publisher=York County Coast Star|access-date=August 21, 2023}}

The Marginal Way, a mile-long public footpath along the rocky coastal shoreline, stretches from Perkins Cove to central Ogunquit.{{cite web|url=https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1349&context=mgs_publications|title=The Geology of the Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine|last1=Hussey II|first1=Arthur M.|last2=Marvinney|first2=Robert G.|date=February 2002|publisher=Maine Geological Survey, Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry|access-date=August 21, 2023}}

References