Ocean Park Association

Founded in 1881, and now both a year-round home for an increasing number of families and an annual vacation destination for others, Ocean Park is a retreat to the quiet of the pines and the beach offering lectures, workshops, family programs and opportunities for spiritual growth and renewal in a non-denominational, inter-faith setting. The seven mile beach and the surrounding marsh and forest land are national treasures. The historic buildings of Ocean Park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and most listings of the nation's finest beaches include the "grand strand"?stretching seven miles from Saco to Scarborough.

The purpose of the Ocean Park Association is to affirm the traditions and spiritual heritage of which we are heirs, through a summer assembly program where Christian worship, principles and ideals are at the focus; where diversity is celebrated and the dignity of all is embraced and respected; where the natural beauty of our seaside resort is conserved and enhanced; and where programs centered on religion, education, recreation and culture provide opportunities for individual growth and family enrichment. In the late nineteenth century, the camp meeting movement gave birth to more than 350 assembly centers scattered across the United States. Dedicated to self-improvement, very few of these communities still exist. Typically, all the assembly centers were situated near water with a grove of trees nearby. The most famous assembly center was, and still is, in Chautauqua, New York. The name of that institution became so well known, that "Chautauqua" became the word used to identify assembly centers whose programs include religion, education, cultural entertainment and recreation. Ocean Park's identification with the Chautauqua movement was clearly stated on the cover of the 1900 booklet: Eastern New England Chautauqua. This family-style summer community is not unlike Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts or Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Ocean Park was founded under Free Will Baptist auspices in 1881 and the Association held its first assembly season that year. The Charter, issued to the Association by the State of Maine on January 24, 1881, stated that the purpose of the corporation was "to establish a place of summer resort for holding religious, educational and other meetings at Old Orchard, in Saco, in the County of York." The one-half mile by one-half mile tract along Saco Bay that became Ocean Park was purchased for $5,000. The Temple, seating a thousand people, was built under contract by James Bickford of Portland in six weeks at a cost of $3,550 plus an additional $42 for making and painting the shutters, and was dedicated on August 2, 1881. Legend has it that carpenters labored on the roof by moonlight for a week prior to the dedication in order to be finished by the specified date. Over the ensuing years, Ocean Park expanded through the addition of buildings needed to accommodate an expanding program and the construction of residential structures, cottages and homes, which today number almost 500.