Old Orchard Beach is located on the inner side of Saco Bay on the Atlantic Ocean, and the town is a very popular summer beach destination.

Old Orchard Beach had its first summer tourists before the year 1600 when English, French and Portuguese fishermen visited. In 1614, Captain John Smith¹ explored the Saco River and Bay and made the map which gave the country the name of 'New England'. The first settler was Thomas Rogers, who came from Salem, Massachusetts in 1653. He planted the first grapevines and fruit trees in 1657, and his plantation was so unusual as to be known on the maps of the time as 'Rogers's Garden' - or 'the Garden by the Sea' and sailors navigating along the coast often used the orchard as a landmark.

The Battle of Googins Rocks

In 1675 a small army of Native Americans had hidden themselves in the nearby woods and fired upon a party of about a dozen settlers. It was low tide and the group sheltered from the attack behind the big rocks on the beach. The settlers finally drove the natives off, but not until after the Rogers's home and part of the orchard were burned down and several of the party killed, including Thomas Rogers's son. The family later fled to Kittery, Maine. The abandoned orchard lasted for over 150 years, giving rise to the name Old Orchard Beach. The outcropping of rock visible at low tide that protected the settlers was later named Googins Rocks in 1737 for Patrick Googins, son-in-law of Thomas Rogers.

Goo-Gin

For many years, the early settlers came to the beach to bathe and picnic on St John's Day, 24 June (the date later changed to 26 June). If they never bathed on any other day, they did then, as there was an old tradition that on St John's Day the water had great healing powers and many miraculous cures were claimed. Also during these celebrations copious amounts of gin, made from the orchard's stand of juniper trees, were consumed. The picnics were invariably held at Googins Rocks, the only interruption along the beach's miles of white sand. Partygoers would often lose their footing in the sand or be knocked about by waves while wading, so legends tell of the invention of 'goo-gin'²; named in part after its gooey properties - ostensibly from having pine sap mixed in - and also for the nearby rocks. The semi-solid goo-gin would not spill as easily as liquid gin and, despite having the consistency of gelatine and a taste much like pine-flavoured tar, it soon became the beverage of choice at beach parties³.

Pleasure Beach

During the early 1800s, Old Orchard Beach and Googins Rocks became popular tourist attractions, and people from hundreds of miles away travelled to the sandy beach. The first hotel and bowling alley, Parson Fairfield House, opened in 1820, the same year Maine became a state. The Staples family began accepting summer tourist boarders in 1837 with other hotels opening later in the 1800s. The railroad from Portsmouth, New Hampshire came through in 1842, opening up the town to more holidaymakers and tourists.

Many fires have ravaged Old Orchard Beach throughout its history, destroying all or part of the town. Fires occurred in 1907, 1919, 1922, 1923, 1948, 1969 and 1975. These fires forced Old Orchard Beach to continually reincarnate with an ever-changing face and for many years, Old Orchard Beach served as a vacation place for America's rich and famous, including the Kennedys. It is rumoured that Joe Kennedy first kissed Rose Fitzgerald under the pier at Old Orchard Beach, and the town remains a summertime tourist Mecca with most visitors coming from the north-eastern parts of the United States and the eastern parts of Canada.

The Pier and other Attractions

The Old Orchard Beach Pier was first erected in 1898 and was originally 1770 feet long and made of steel. It has been destroyed and rebuilt repeatedly, always a little shorter. The 'Blizzard Of '78' destroyed the midsection of the pier and at the time of writing it reaches 500 feet into the sea.

The first ride, a merry-go-round, was put up in 1892. Later, in 1902, an amusement park called 'Seaside Park' was added which featured a scenic railway, a fun house, a miniature train, an arcade, and other attractions. The first wooden rollercoaster was added to the pleasure beach in 1914.

Besides the sandy beach itself, current attractions include a ferris wheel that dominates the skyline, smaller amusement parks, numerous food stands, clam shacks, T-shirt shops and dozens of bars and pubs. Jelly shots seem to have replaced 'goo-gin' as the drink of choice for beach partygoers though.

Incidentally, Old Orchard Beach had a brush with fame in 1929 when aviator Charles Lindbergh was forced to abort a flight to Portland and land 'The Spirit Of St Louis' on the beach, attracting a large crowd.

Our thanks to Tav's Dad for the photograph.