Blue Hill, Maine

A Tight-Knit Community. For most of the 20th Century, the town's summer colony helped make Blue Hill a busy place for two months in the summer, but year-round jobs were scarce and the town's resident population declined as many young people left to seek their fortune elsewhere. Blue Hill's population, which peaked at just over 2200 during the 19th Century mining boom, entered a period of slow decline during the first half of the 20th Century and reached a low point of 1270 in 1960.

Summer residents were one of the biggest employers in town in the early part of the Century. A few mills still operated along Mill Stream in the center of town. Fish packing plants in South Blue Hill canned clams, mackerel, and herring. Local men fished through the ice for smelt in the winter, packing them with snow in boxes and shipping them by train from Ellsworth to Boston. Some farmers hung on and there were at least five commercial dairies in town before the Second World War. Blueberries were always a commercial crop, some hand picked by local residents and shipped out of state. Some local men went to jobs at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Bar Harbor during the 1930s helping build the infrastructure for Acadia National Park.

The Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, the Masons and Eastern Star, the Granges in East, South, and North Blue Hill, and the Baptist and Congregational churches were the center of social life and the focus of community service. The Ladies Public Improvement Society, an organization that got its start as a suffragette group, was and still is a focus of community life in South Blue Hill.

New In-migrations since the 1950s. A series of migrations from urban areas along the Eastern Seaboard and as far west as California has brought new life to Blue Hill since the end of the Second World War. Many of these new migrants, unlike the rusticators, have come to live year-round. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Merle Grindle, Jr. and other members of the town's Chamber of Commerce mounted a sustained effort to attract doctors, dentists, attorneys, and other professionals to town. Like the rusticators these new residents were drawn to town by the "the charm of its situation" but they were also looking for good schools and the right place to raise their children.

This new group of migrants included professions that enriched the town's community life. Jerry and Gayle Durnbaugh moved to town in 1960 and started Blue Hill's first newspaper since a short-lived attempt in the 19th Century. Local residents volunteered their time to help The Packet get up and running. It continues to serve as the town's journal of record. Later in the decade, Jerry Durnbaugh and Bob Bannister founded the Peninsula Ambulance Corps. The organization they started with one Pontiac ambulance and an all-volunteer staff has grown into a service with state-of-the-art equipment and a paid staff of EMTs that serves citizens across the peninsula regardless of their ability to pay.

The Back to the Land Movement. In the late 1960s and 1970s, this new migration to Blue Hill was swelled by devotees of the "back-to-the-land" movement. They came to town with long hair and a different background than the town's first settlers, but like those settlers they were looking for a place where they could farm and live closer to the land, and they found a warm welcome. One group of these new residents bought property on the ridge above South Street and established "Circle Farm." They grew much of their own food and like other Blue Hill residents that preceded them they learned a variety of professions in order to make a living. George and Karen Frangoulis started a new publication, Farmstead Magazine, whose mission was to support Mainers who wanted to grow their own food and make a living off the land.

In the last two decades, new residents have continued to discover Blue Hill. Many of them grew up in town and went away to find jobs but have been drawn back to their roots as they retired. Others grew up summering or vacationing in Blue Hill and ultimately determined to make the town their permanent home. Many of the town's new residents are retirees from successful careers in cities to the south.

This post-war immigration has helped support a thriving public library, quality public and private education, a cooperative food market, a rebirth of local farming, two historical societies, a music lending library, and myriad volunteer organizations. And it has spurred the growth of the local economy. Yet, the people of Blue Hill still pride themselves on self-sufficiency and hard work. The town continues to draw summer visitors but for most of the year life in Blue Hill is quiet. People catch up with neighbors and friends at the post office or grocery store and community-minded residents organize benefit dinners or concerts to help a family in need.

The new in-migration has also revived Blue Hill's population and its real estate values. The town's population was over 2300 in the 2000 Census, finally surpassing the previous peak at the time of the 19th Century mining boom. The assessed value of real property in town increased from just over a million dollars in 1950 to just under 400 Million dollars in 2007.

While changes over the last 50 years have been substantial, the town's new residents, just like the old, know they have to be resourceful to make a living in a small town in downeast Maine. The mix of long-time residents and new migrants has helped make Blue Hill a thriving commercial, social, and cultural center. And both old residents and new share a strong appreciation for the values and advantages of life in a small town nestled between the mountain and the sea.