Is This Maine Hotel Really the Oldest Hotel in the United States?

These days businesses come and go at lightning speed.

If you jump around the timeline on Google Maps' Street View, there is a good chance that you will notice a different business in a given space each time you change the year.  For example, there is a spot on Water Street in Augusta that has been at least five different businesses in the last decade.

It is rare to find a business that has been around for a few decades.  It is incredibly rare to find a business that has been around for over a century, let alone several centuries!

However, that is the case with one hotel located in Southern Maine.

The Seaside Inn in Kennebunk, Maine

According to various sources, including the history of the inn itself, this hotel has been welcoming guests since the 1660s!  Yes, the place has been around for about 360 years.

Trish and Ken Mason are America’s only known ninth-generation innkeepers.  Trish’s family has operated The Seaside House since 1756, when her ancestor Jedidiah Gooch purchased the property from a cousin.

The history of the property goes back even further.  Records indicate an inn was operating there as early as 1660, when ferrymen were asked to live on the oceanfront peninsula at the mouth of the Kennebunk River and help travelers cross the river.

The Gooch family became a prominent part of the Kennebunks after John Gooch arrived in Maine in 1637.  Over the generations, the inn was traditionally passed down to the first-born son until it eventually went to a daughter, ending the Gooch name at the property.  Another name change came when Trish’s grandmother inherited it.

Is The Seaside Inn the Oldest Hotel in the United States?

There is a really good chance that, yes, it is.

According to the history, some kind of lodging has been on that site since about 1660.  That means there was some kind of hotel there for more than 350 years.

Even if you are just considering the opening of the Seaside House in 1756 as the start of the business, that still predates the second oldest hotel by a decade.  The Beekman Arms & Delamater Inn has been serving visitors to New York state since 1766.

You can find out more about the hotel and book your stay by visiting the Seaside Inn website.