Called Plantation Number 5, it was first settled in 1762 by Captain Joseph Wood and John Roundy from Andover, Massachusetts, who built homes on Mill Island at the tidal falls. It would then be called Newport Plantation. On January 30, 1789, the town was incorporated as Blue Hill, named after its commanding summit overlooking the region.
Other names for Blue Hill: Kolledgewidgwock; Blue Hill Bay; Newport Plantation; Township No. 5 East of Penobscot River, Livermore Survey (T5 EPR LS)
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A Survey of Hancock County, Maine By Samuel Wasson 1876: Bluehill.—Incorporated (3-62 town) Jan. 30, 1789. Population, 1707. Decennary loss, 196. Wealth, per capita, $225. State valuation, $397,620. U. S. valuation, $572,- 572. First settled near "Fire Falls," April 7, 1762, by Joseph Wood and John Roundy. Next settlers, Nicholas Holt, Ezekiel Osgood and Nehemiah Hinckley. First child, Jonathan Darling, born in 1765 ; second child, Edith Wood, in 1766. The township first known as No. 5. The plantation name was "Newport." The town takes its name from a majestic hill, which rises to an altitude of 950 feet above high-water mark. Congregational Church formed in 1772; Baptist, in 1806. First post office in 1795. Jonathan Fisher, settled minister from 1796 to 1837. Eccentric "Parson" Fisher, 'tho' dead, his good name liveth, Academy incorporated in 1803, and endowed by a grant or half of No. 23, Washington county. This grant was sold in 1806, for $6,252. Of this sum, $1,188 have been lost. Has a social library of some 500 volumes. In 1769, the settlers voted to raise money " for to hire a person for to preach the gospel to us, and for to pay his board." Union soldiers in the war of the Rebellion, 196 ; State aid, $3,038 ; town bounty, $17,995 ; cost per recruit, $102. |