Those who spend the summers of their youth in seaside Kennebunkport now return to introduce their own youngsters to the long, sandy beaches, the salty air and rocky shores. : THE MAINE ATTRACTION

This is a summer place where traditions linger, and where more than one romance has reached high pitch during the pleasant days that unfold between June and September.

Gales blow in during winter, but in spring, vacationers trek back, as they do year after year, to spark new life in this seaside resort along the rocky coast of Maine.

They hunt for shells and explore sweeping Atlantic beaches and stroll the sands of wild and lonely Parson’s Beach. The sea turns white with sails and youngsters romp among the dunes while gulls wheel overhead, wings spread against the gentle wind. Graceful yachts move among lobster boats and the sun shines warmly from a cornflower sky.

As an escape from the political cooker of the nation’s capital, Vice President George Bush maintains a home in Kennebunkport. Perched in a serene setting at Walker’s Point, it is his sanctuary from the pressures of D.C.

Since before the turn of the century, Kennebunkport has welcomed summer visitors--wealthy Bostonians and others up from Connecticut, the Carolinas and New York.

Couples who spent the summers of their youth in Kennebunkport return to introduce their own youngsters to the long, sandy beaches and the salty air and rocky shores.

And new romances warm with summer’s endless days as the population swells by the hundreds with soon-to-be-gone vacationers. Traditionally, Labor Day signals the season’s passing. Later the skies grow gray and Atlantic gales whip the dunes, carrying the salt spray to boarded-up homes.

Before its renown as a resort, Kennebunkport was recognized throughout New England as a shipbuilding port. During nearly a century, more than 800 vessels slipped into the Atlantic from its shores.

Finally, as the shipbuilding industry came to an end, Kennebunkport turned to the vacationer, becoming one of the outstanding resorts of the 1880s and ‘90s. Private homes opened their doors to guests and an old farmhouse was expanded into Kennebunkport’s first hotel.

Kennebunkport’s reputation as a summer place was about to begin.

Soon, land speculators made their appearance, buying farms along the coast and building a magnificent hotel, the Ocean Bluff, which took up to 300 guests.

After that they ran a spur line off the railroad to bring prospective buyers to the hotel to be entertained--and sold on a summer place.

Elegant Victorian homes appeared on the Atlantic shore while Kennebunkport grew famous as a resort catering to the whims of the wealthy.

Later, when the Ocean Bluff was destroyed by fire, the Colony rose from its ashes and, before long, other resort hotels took shape along the rugged New England coast.

With the arrival of June, train loads of vacationers swelled the population of Kennebunkport. They came with half a dozen trunks apiece. Some chartered entire freight cars and brought their own carriage horses. Liveried coachmen stood by to deliver both passengers and baggage to the growing colony of splendid homes and resort hotels.

Vacationers swam in the Atlantic and boated down the Kennebunkport River, and clambakes were held at Goose Rocks while others carried picnic baskets to Fortune’s Rocks.

In those early days it was difficult for the onlooker to tell the bather from the stroller. Ladies wore knee-length dresses, bloomers and stockings, while men promenaded in striped tops and swim trunks that fell below the knees.

And now, although fashionable swimwear has reached Kennebunkport, old traditions refuse to die. There are still clambakes and picnics on the beach, and new romances that begin in June spend their fires by early September, the melancholy end of summer’s sweet days.

Traditionally a proud old hotel by the sea, the Colony opens with the approach of June. During the next 2 1/2 months, vacationers swim in its saltwater pool and gather for lawn games and tennis while others take to the putting green.

Guests stroll through the gardens at the Colony and study the ocean from a snug guest house between Spouting Rock and Blowing Caves.

Beyond the beach stands a proud old home, a descendant from Kennebunkport’s seafaring days, the Captain Lord Mansion, a 26-room home that’s been restored to its original splendor, first by Shirley and Jim Throumoulas and most recently by Rich and Bev Litchfield.

Strolling through its doorway is like stepping back into the 19th Century. Topped by a cupola, the old, three-story home contains more than a dozen fireplaces, an elliptical staircase and rooms that feature priceless antiques and beds with firm mattresses. And there’s good news for city types suffering from jangled nerves: No telephones or TVs disturb the tranquil atmosphere of the Captain Lord Mansion. Still, to keep guests aware of the mansion’s past, a resident ghost crops up on occasion, a benign 18th-Century figure who appears swiftly and is gone just as quickly, like a sudden wisp of smoke.

Hooked rugs cover its floors and handmade quilts and comforters grace its beds. Eleven rooms are equipped with working fireplaces and other fireplaces glow in the public room on the ground floor.

Originally the home of Nathaniel Lord, it remained in the same family for 160 years. Capt. Lord’s grandson, Charles P. Clark, one-time president of the New York-New Haven & Hartford Railroad, summered in the old home, bringing with him rail cars filled with trunks, servants and horses.

The last descendant was Clark’s granddaughter, who lived alone in the mansion until her death in 1971. Now a public inn, the Captain Lord Mansion takes guests year-round, the busiest months being July, August and October, when New England shows off her autumn colors.

Bev and Rich Litchfield have added a carriage house to the mansion, the Captain’s Hideaway, that features two deluxe suites, one with a four-poster, a whirlpool tub and a TV that’s hidden in an antique wardrobe, and upstairs another features a canopied bed, a couple of fireplaces and a view of the river.

Another 16 guest rooms--each with private bath--are spread throughout the old mansion with its fireplaces, polished mahogany, ancient portraits, Persian rugs and priceless antiques. Even for New England, with hundreds of inns for the choosing, the Captain Lord Mansion is spacious and special.

At the Inn on South Street, visitors are accommodated in three guest rooms, each with private bath, and there’s a breakfast room with a view of the river as well as the ocean. The Inn on South Street (circa 1807) was moved to its present site in 1901 after a previous owner of the Captain Lord Mansion complained that it blocked her view. The feisty lady up and bought the house--lock, stock and shutters--and ordered it hauled away.

Open year-round with the exception of January, the Inn on South Street is of Greek Revival style with displays of elegant antiques. Its proprietors, Eva and Jacques Downs (he’s a college professor), turn out breakfasts that include souffles and German pancakes stuffed with apples, raisins, nuts and other good things.

Block From Ocean

A couple of ex-Californians, David and Sheila Aldrich, hold forth at the Old Fort Inn, which is a wedding of a couple of old barns and a carriage house that rises on a pleasant street only a block from the ocean. Each of its 14 guest rooms contains a private bath. Bicycles are provided, and there’s a swimming pool as well as a tennis court. Sheila, an ex-flight attendant with American Airlines, is still on the serving line, preparing continental breakfasts in her 1880s inn (open from mid-April till mid-December) and mapping out tours for guests poking around the side streets of Kennebunkport.

Ex-schoolteacher Susan Chetwynd is hailed for the gourmet breakfasts she prepares at Chetwynd House Inn, a three-story 1840s white-frame structure on Chestnut Street. Her offerings range from eggs with broccoli to a cheese souffle stuffed with crab meat and “Susan’s Sinful Hot Cakes,” which is to say pancakes smothered with strawberries and whipped cream. In the candlelit living room, high tea is offered each afternoon promptly at 4, when guests gather to exchange pleasantries along with tips on Kennebunkport.

Summer visitors find other shelter at Althea Beard’s 1820 School House B&B; on School Street, which was the site of Kennebunkport’s first schoolhouse in the 1700s. Beard took a flyer at the B&B; game when her children took leave of the nest. Keeping her company is “an inquisitive cat” who pads through the antique-filled rooms and snuggles up to guests while Beard whips together sausage and cheese souffles that rate four stars, guests insist, at the very least.

Art Fills Farmhouse

Five miles west of Kennebunkport, a 165-year-old farmhouse is filled with the art collection of Boston University Professor Murray Yaeger. With its six guest rooms (each with private bath), Arundel Meadows Inn gets high marks for the gourmet breakfasts prepared by Yaeger’s partner, Mark Bachelder, along with afternoon teas featuring Bachelder’s home-baked pastries.

In town, the three-story Maine Stay Inn with its glass-enclosed cupola rates a mention on the National Register of Historic Places. With a wraparound porch, the 1850s inn beds guests down in six rooms. On the same grassy grounds, 11 cottages (each with private kitchen) provide additional accommodations. The Maine Stay Inn is a white frame with green shutters. Pure New England . . . and only a short stroll off Dock Square.

Inns:

--Captain Lord Mansion, P.O. Box 800, Kennebunkport, Me. 04046; (207) 967-3141. Rates: $90/$195 (high season), $79/$169 (off-season).

--Inn on South Street, P.O. Box 478A, Kennebunkport, Me. 04046; (207) 967-5151. Rates: $75/$85 (high season), $60/$70 (off-season).

--Old Fort Inn, P.O. Box M, Kennebunkport, Me. 04046; (207) 967-5353. Rates: $85/$185.

--Chetwynd House Inn, P.O. Box 130, Kennebunkport, Me. 04046; (207) 967-2235. Rates: $79/$125 (June through December).

--1820 School House, Box 619, Kennebunkport, Me. 04046; (207) 967-4813. Rates: $45/$50 (B&B;).

--Arundel Meadows Inn, P.O. Box 1129, Kennebunk, Me. 04043; (207) 985-3770. Rates: $55/$70 (B&B;). Open year-round.

--Maine Stay Inn, P.O. Box 500A, Kennebunkport, Me. 04046; (207) 967-2117. Rates: $68/$82 (spring), $86/$106 (summer).