Ocean Park and the Temple
Near Old Orchard Beach, Maine
Just south of the amusement pier and the arcades sits a quieter, older world called Ocean Park. It was born of religion. In the early eighteen eighties, Free Will Baptist church leaders resolved to build a place of summer resort on the Maine coast for religious and educational meetings, a wholesome retreat by the sea.
Officers of Bates College, a Free Will Baptist school, were among its chief backers. The state of Maine chartered the Ocean Park Association in eighteen eighty-one, and the group bought a site along this shore. The heart of the colony was the Temple, an eight sided wooden building meant to hold a great crowd.
It went up in a matter of weeks, with carpenters reportedly finishing the roof by moonlight to meet the deadline. It was dedicated that same summer. Modeled on the famous Chautauqua assembly in New York, Ocean Park became known as Chautauqua by the Sea, a summer community of lectures, concerts, and worship.
More than a century later, that Temple still stands, and Ocean Park keeps its calm, contemplative character just down the beach from the roller coasters.
