KENNEBUNKPORT – Better known as the coastal town where the Bush family has a summer home, Kennebunkport is also home of the mansion once owned by Kenneth Roberts, one of America’s best-known historical fiction writers in the early 20th century.

A stone, fortresslike mansion and 96 acres surrounding it, which were bought last year by three partners, may remain intact as a standing tribute to the author, who is largely forgotten in the town where he lived.

John Mills, Steve Bowley and Leon Blood, who bought the 6,000-square-foot house and property, had planned to subdivide the tract of woods into 35 house lots. But their plan changed after they learned of the environmental requirements it posed.

Instead, the partners decided to have the five-bedroom house renovated for $650,000 and put it up for sale along with 70 acres of woods and meadows. Marketed as the Kenneth Roberts Estate, the property is listed for $7.95 million.

Mills, a New Jersey resident who owns a home in Kennebunkport and retired a few years ago as the chief operating officer of the clothing retailer Aeropostale, said the partners hope to find a buyer who appreciates the property for its history and privacy.

If their hope becomes reality, it would be a tribute to the reclusive, modest writer who avoided trading on his reputation.

“Roberts made a fine contribution to American literature, but he’s not honored in his hometown,” said Kennebunk town historian Joyce Butler.

Born in neighboring Kennebunk in 1885, Roberts built his mansion in 1938. His best-known work is “Northwest Passage,” which is set during the French and Indian War and became the basis for a 1940 movie starring Spencer Tracy.

The prolific author, who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize the year he died, drew on Maine and the other northern New England states for characters and settings in books such as “Arundel” and “Oliver Wiswell.”