« Previous | Main | Next »

Bush's 'Little Shangri-La'

August 25, 2006 6:25 PM

White House correspondent Ann Compton has covered two President Bushs and their summers visiting Walker's Point.

Presidential retreats are usually isolated spots providing a first family privacy and peace,  but Walker’s Point has long given the Bush family presidents the exact opposite. 

The stately home sits on a rocky promentory nearly surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the heart of a busy seaside resort of Kennebunkport, Maine.  The scenic road along the coast passes in clear view of the front door.  Sailboats and lobstermen ply the waters beneath its livingroom windows.

It’s a presidential security nightmare when President George W. Bush visits this weekend with dozens of cousins for a family wedding. But the house is what his father once described in a note to me as “our little Shangrila.”

Walker’s Point is named for former President Bush’s mother’s family.  Dorothy Walker lived there for a generation.  George Herbert Walker Bush visited every summer of his life with the exception of one year when overseas during World War II.  The huge wooden frame house fell into disrepair and was nearly too much for any of the new generations to care for. One family member recalls a tree growing up thru the roof. But the former President took ownership and raised his own five children there. The family added a swimming pool, a tennis court, and when he was president, a helipad for Marine One.

Nature can be rough on oceanfront property. A wave of tidal proportions crashed over the house the year after President Bush left office.  It towered over the roof, broke through windows and swept all the furniture from some rooms into the sea.  Years earlier another storm literally cut off one wing of bedrooms. The portion left standing was renamed The Wave House and converted into a guest house.

It’s all right there for tourists to see.

August 25, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/433071/5793876

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Bush's 'Little Shangri-La':

User Comments

Posted by: Santa Clause | Aug 29, 2006 12:23:23 PM

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments: