Walker's Point - Bush Compound

USA / Maine / Kennebunkport / Ocean Avenue, 243
 house, presidential residence, shingle style (architecture)
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The Bush compound, firstly Walker's Point, is the summer home of 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush. Located adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean in southern Maine, near the town of Kennebunkport, the property has been a family retreat for more than a century.

The estate was first purchased by St. Louis banker George H. Walker in the late 19th century; he built the mansion in 1903. The estate was later sold to his daughter Dorothy Walker Bush and her husband Prescott Bush and has remained in the Bush family since.

The Kennebunkport estate was where President George H. W. Bush spent much of his childhood, and he inherited the property on the death of his parents. As an adult, Bush, his wife Barbara, and their children George, Jeb, Marvin, Neil, Dorothy, and Robin spent most summers at the estate, as well as family weddings, holidays, and receptions. While at the "summer White House," Bush hosted world leaders including Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev for informal and private meetings. As a young man, Bush relocated to Houston, Texas, and today the Bushes maintain a working residence in Tanglewood, where they spend most of their time.

Currently, President George W. Bush, who often stays at Prairie Chapel, his Crawford, Texas ranch, visits with family in Kennebunkport several times a year.

The estate is situated on the strip of land called Walker's Point which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. The large central house, built in the New England shingle style, has nine bedrooms, four sitting rooms, an office, a den, a library, a dining room, a kitchen, and various patios and decks. Next to the main house are a four-car garage, a pool, tennis court, dock, boathouse, and guesthouse. There are spacious lawns on either side of the house, on which there is a small sportsfield.

The entrance is gated and guarded by Secret Service officers, though visitors can see the driveway leading up to the main house and a circular driveway, in the middle of which is a large flagpole flying the American flag.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_compound
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Coordinates:   43°20'37"N   70°27'35"W

Comments

  • The waters off Walkers Point are some of the most profitable lobster grounds in all of Maine. A push by the Secret Service to enact a security zone around the point was met with almost an armed revolt by the lobstering community until an exemption for cleared lobstering boats was worked out.
This article was last modified 5 years ago