Louis T Graves Memorial Public Library

PORT KNITTERS
2026-06-24 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
Port Knitters meet on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 3:00 to sit and knit. Members are encouraged to bring any current projects and supplies. This is not a learn-to-knit class.

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 207-967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

BOARD GAMES!
2026-06-25 14:00 - 16:00 | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
Board Games! Come join us every Thursday afternoon to play! Board games, including Scrabble, Backgammon, cards, crosswords and more will be available in the Dow Room. Come have a coffee or cocoa and some fun.

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 207-967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

EVENING BOOK GROUP
2026-06-25 17:00 - 18:00 | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
Evening Book Group
For June, the group is reading “Heart the Lover” by Lily King.

Please give us a call at 207-967-2778 for more information on this event.

STORYTIME - FRIDAYS 10 AM
2026-06-26 10:00 - 10:30 | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
Fabulous Friday Family Storytime with Miss Terri and Miss Allison is in the community room every Friday at 10 AM, and everyone is welcome to Stay & Play at 10:45 AM. This program features stories, fingerplays, and songs. After storytime, be sure to stop at our hands-on stations that are always open: Puzzle Cubes, View-Master, Coloring Crafts, Legos, I Spy Terrarium, and more! Try out our themed Scavenger Hunt for a chance to win a prize!

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport. For further information, please call 207-967-2778 and ask for the Junior Room or visit www.graveslibrary.org.

THE BOOK CELLAR - USED BOOK STORE - Open Library Hours Monday - Saturday
2026-06-29 09:30 - 17:00 | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
Visit the Book Cellar! There are thousands of books to choose from during Library hours. We also have notecards, special books, ball caps, special gift books, coffee mugs, bookmarks, and more. Cookbooks, sports, religion, fiction, biography, history, children’s, classics, health, and more! Looking for the perfect gift idea? Purchase a gift certificate for the book sale! Open during library hours Monday-Friday 9:30-5:00; Saturdays, 9:30-12:30.

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, and is open Monday-Friday 9:30-5:00; Saturdays, 9:30-12:30. For further information, please call 207-967-2778 or visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

CHESS CLUB
2026-06-30 14:00 - 16:30 | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
Calling all Chess players! Bring your own board or use one of ours – Tuesdays, from 2:00 to 4:30 PM in the Dow Room. We hope to get some great matches going and help each other learn this great game. All levels of play are welcome.

The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport.

For further information, please call 207-967-2778 or visit www.graveslibrary.org.

SECRET GARDENS OF THE KENNEBUNKS - JULY 11 - 10 AM to 3 PM
2026-07-11 10:00 - 15:00 | Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library @ 18 Maine St, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, USA, 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, ME, 04046, United States
According to Cicero, “if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

Saturday, July 11
10 AM – 3 PM
BUY TICKETS

ONE OF GRAVES LIBRARY’S MOST POPULAR EVENTS—THE SECRET GARDENS OF THE KENNEBUNKS TOUR—PROVIDES RARE ACCESS TO LOCAL GARDENS ON JULY 11 RAIN OR SHINE
Tickets are $60 in advance and $70 on July 11. Buy tickets here.
A detailed map revealing the secret locations of the participating properties will be provided to all ticket holders on the day of the tours at Consolidated School, 25 School Street.
Occurring just every other year, the Secret Gardens of the Kennebunks Tour gives town residents and visitors rare access to seven of the most beautiful local gardens in our lovely coastal town. This year’s event to benefit the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is slated for Saturday, July 11, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This delightful summer activity is one of the library’s most popular events. Gardens tour participants are treated to a wide variety of garden styles and environments amid lovely natural settings from stately mansions to quaint seaside cottages. Volunteers will be located at each garden to help with questions and where to park.
A special Garden Tour Preview Party for garden owners and sponsors will be held at Mélange Home Shop in Lower Village, Kennebunk on Friday, July 10, from 5-7 PM. Mélange is a unique retail shop created by Paula and Clayton Daher, the mother and son duo of Daher Interior Design. Mélange specializes in globally and locally sourced home furnishings. Wine and hors d’ oeuvres will be served.
Flowers and gardens are part of the Graves Library DNA—Kennebunkport artist Abbott Graves (1859-1936), the father of the library’s namesake, was famously known for his spectacular floral paintings.
The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, housed in an historic building located near Kennebunkport’s famous Dock Square town center, is a full-service free library whose mission is “to enrich the lives of all we serve.”
All proceeds for this event benefit the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library. Please call us with any questions. (207) 967-2778.
Thank you, Rose, Petal Partner and Peony sponsors!

Thank you, Dahlia and Sunflower sponsors!
Azalea Events, Cummings, Lamont and McNamee, A Highlanders Garden, Sarah & Tom Vander Schaaff, Lisa Coppola, Vicky & Mark Lamarre, Connie & John Dystra

KEN BURNS - JULY 30 - WAITLIST ONLY
2026-07-30 17:00 - 19:00 | ME
Ken Burns, with interviewer Rob Caldwell, July 30
Photo credit: Stephanie Berger
ICONIC FILMMAKER KEN BURNS WILL DISCUSS HIS AWARD-WINNING WORK AND THE STATE OF THE NATION ON ITS 250th ANNIVERSARY WITH TV NEWS ANCHOR ROB CALDWELL AT GRAVES LIBRARY’S DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER EVENT AT KBH AUDITORIUM ON JULY 30
Purchase Tickets Here
Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary with this rare opportunity to experience American icon and treasured storyteller Ken Burns at 6 p.m. on July 30 at Kennebunk High School. From his groundbreaking documentary The Civil War to his most recent release The American Revolution, Burns has captured the imagination of an entire nation for nearly five decades.
Burns will be interviewed by Rob Caldwell, one of Maine’s premier TV news anchors. Prior to the event, The Seatones, a popular group of 16 Southern Maine singers from Seaglass Performing Arts, will perform a musical prelude of patriotic songs.
Hosted by the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, this special appearance is part of the library’s Distinguished Speaker Series, annual fundraising events featuring nationally recognized authors and speakers. All proceeds from ticket sales and event sponsorships support the library’s essential programs and services.
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost 50 years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Burns has gone on to direct some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War, Baseball; Jazz, The War, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Prohibition; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, The Vietnam War, Country Music, The U.S. and the Holocaust, The American Buffalo, Leonardo da Vinci, and The American Revolution, which aired on PBS in November, 2025.
Burns’ films have been honored with dozens of major awards, including 17 Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Oscar nominations. In September of 2008, at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, he was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In November of 2022, Burns was inducted in the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, housed in an historic 19th century building located near Kennebunkport’s famous Dock Square town center, is a full-service free library whose mission is “to enrich the lives of all we serve.” A nonprofit organization, Graves Library receives 60 percent of its operating budget from donations and other fundraising sources.
Purchase Tickets Here
Thank you sponsors, Spinnaker Trust, Kennebunk Savings, Partners Bank, Bergen Parkinson Attorneys, Bob Dennis Photography, Colony Hotel, Louise Hurlbutt, Octopus Books, Mike Kelly, and Edison Press.

SAVE THE DATE - AUTHOR WALLY LAMB AT VINEGAR HILL
2026-09-24 17:30 - 18:30 | Vinegar Hill Music Theater, 53 Old Post Road, Arundel, Maine 04046, 53 Old Post Road, Arundel, ME, 04046, United States
The 2026 Clifford W. Burgess Fall Author Night
Author Wally Lamb and Rebecca Eaton
September 24, at Vinegar Hill

SAVE THE DATE! The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library in Kennebunkport is pleased to once again partner with Vinegar Hill for this special evening with Wally Lamb and Rebecca Eaton.
Doors open at 5:30 for the purchase of drinks, and books. The program begins at 6:30.
Wally Lamb, author of seven New York Times bestselling novels, three of which—She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, and his most recent novel The River Is Waiting—were Oprah’s Book Club picks. Lamb will read and discuss his writing at 6:30 p.m. on September 24 at Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel.
Lamb will be interviewed by Rebecca Eaton. Eaton took the helm of the PBS series Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! in 1985 and later oversaw a highly successful relaunch of Masterpiece which attracted a new generation of viewers to a long string of hits highlighted by Downton Abbey, the most-watched drama in PBS history.
This second Clifford W. Burgess Author Night is hosted by the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library in Kennebunkport, Maine and is open to the public. Clifford Burgess was a civic leader in Kennebunkport in the 1980s whose memory lives on with his family’s generous support. These annual fundraising events feature nationally recognized, popular authors. All proceeds from ticket sales and event sponsorships support the library’s essential operations.
I Know This Much Is True, a family saga that follows the parallel lives of identical twin brothers in an epic story of betrayal, sacrifice, and forgiveness, was adopted for an HBO miniseries starring Mark Ruffalo in a dual role as twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. Ruffalo’s performance won him a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Lamb’s other popular novels include I’ll Take You There, We Are Water, Wishin’ and Hopin’, and The Hour I First Believed. He also edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself and I’ll Fly Away, two volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he was a volunteer facilitator for twenty years.
Lamb taught English at Norwich Free Academy, where he created and directed the Connecticut school’s Writing Center. He also taught creative writing in the English Department at the University of Connecticut. Lamb lives in Connecticut with his wife, Christine, and they have three sons.
Tickets for Wally Lamb will be available online at vinhillmusic.com in late April.
This is a popular fall event that sells out quickly, so buy your tickets today!
The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library, housed in an historic 19th century building located near Kennebunkport’s famous Dock Square town center, is a full-service free library whose mission is “to enrich the lives of all we serve.” A nonprofit organization, Graves Library receives 60 percent of its operating budget from donations and other fundraising sources.
Thank you to our sponsors: Clifford W. Burgess, Vinegar Hill, Kennebunk Savings, Partners Bank, Bergen Parkinson Attorneys, Bob Dennis Photography, Colony Hotel, Louise Hurlbutt, Mike Kelly, and Octopus Books
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: CLIFFORD W. BURGESS/2026 Fall Author Night
He Loved His Family, His Town, Graves Library, and Roller Coasters
Clifford W. Burgess’ memory lives on with his family’s generous sponsorship of the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library’s October event with award-winning author Adam Higginbotham.
Clifford Wilson Burgess quickly became a man about town when he retired as president of a large, successful photo engraving company in western Massachusetts and moved to Kennebunkport fulltime
in 1974. He and his wife, Mary, had been vacationing in Maine since 1968. Clifford had a great many passions and interests. He became deeply involved in town politics, becoming a member of the town’s Planning Board for nine years and a member of the Select Board for six years. He was also active on the Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library board and the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust.
But it was Clifford’s quirky nature that endeared him to the town’s residents. He was a self-styled Anglophile and was well known in town for walking his Airedale, Rocky, around his neighborhood sporting a tweed jacket. A graduate of Bard College, he was an omnivorous reader and a lifelong student of English history and architecture. He and Mary lived in a Tudor-style cottage that was known as The Shakespeare House. In retirement he became an accomplished oil painter, and many of his paintings grace the homes of family members and friends. Clifford had a distinctive laugh, what some might call a giggle. He loved to watch (and rewatch) The Three Stooges, giggling the whole time.
Clifford had strong opinions about things, and wrote frequent letters to the local newspapers, often disagreeing with elected officials and the other powers that be. He knew about literature, architecture, history, and politics, and he brought those subjects to bear in his lively missives. To combat the debilitating effects of acute arthritis, Clifford was always on the move, walking his dog, riding one of his several racing bikes, or swimming with friends several days a week in Dover, New Hampshire.
But to those who knew him well, one of his most charming traits was his love of roller coasters. Over the years, Mary would drive him all over so he could ride the biggest and the best roller coasters
America had to offer. He rode each roller coaster twice—one trip in the front seat and one trip in the back seat. Two completely different experiences he would tell you, a “rode scholar” on the subject.
