Established in 1736, the district includes a significant number of fairly high-style houses from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when Kennebunk was at its height as a shipbuilding and maritime shipping center.

This area was first permanently settled in 1736, and a corridor between the Mousam and Kennebunk Rivers soon developed, along what is now Summer Street (Maine State Route 35).

The village center is focused on the former Post Road, now United States Route 1, on the east side of the Mousam River.

The oldest houses in the district date to the 1750s and 1760s, including most notably the Lord Mansion at 20 Summer Street, whose older portion is an ell attached to a fine Federal period built in 1804.

The northern portion of Summer Street is lined with houses built primarily in the first half of the 19th century for ship's captains.