Blue Hill, Maine

By Josh Sawyer, Senior, George Stevens Academy

The term “rusticators” is used to describe families who came to spend long summers on the coast of Maine. Rusticators started arriving in the late 1800’s. They settled in many places; among them, Parker Point in Blue Hill. The word rusticator is derived from the word rustic, which relates to country living. Rusticators wanted to live simpler lives, though they enjoyed the amenities of a well to do American lifestyle and came from comfortable backgrounds.

Many rusticators lived on Parker Point and the creation of The Homestead boarding house provided incentive to spend long summers along Maine’s beautiful coast. Many early rusticators came to Blue Hill to get away from the hustle and bustle of a fast paced city lifestyle. Blue Hill offered a quiet and scenic place to spend long summers. Blue Hill had many accommodations that attracted rusticators and Blue Hill offered culture that could not be found elsewhere. Some rusticators spent time in Blue Hill for health reasons. They could get away from dirty cities and breathe fresh coastal air. Later, the 1950’s polio scare influenced this trend. The hospitality of Blue Hill’s year-round summer residents made the new residents feel welcome. Rusticators were primarily from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and some from as far away as Ohio.

Some rusticators became acquainted with the area when they stayed in one of the local inns or boarding houses. The Homestead was built by Isaac Parker and later owned by Hartford Sweet who started accepting summer guests in 1882. The Homestead attracted many early rusticators. Sweet moved from Salem, Massachusetts because his doctor advised him that the salt air would make him well. The Homestead could seat up to sixty people in its dining hall and communal meals were commonplace. The homestead offered its guests fresh produce and dairy products from local farms. The Homestead offered activities, like sailing expeditions, music, and picnic excursions. Guests who wanted to build summer cottages of their own began buying plots of land from Sweet. In 1908, the homestead was torn down.

The Blue Hill Inn was built by George Stover in 1892. The inn opened its doors in 1896. It overlooked the ocean and offered guests a scenic view of Blue Hill Mountain. The inn offered “Electric Lights, Long Distance Telephone, Telegraphic Office, Saddle Horses, [and] Excellent Livery” (Wood 73). The Inn offered the public performances of a small orchestra on Saturday evenings. The performances caused an intermingling of town residents and the rusticators. When the Blue Hill Hospital burned down in 1929, the Blue Hill Inn served a temporary location for a much needed hospital. In 1932 the Inn suffered the same fate as the hospital had and burned to the ground.

Rusticators traveled to and from Maine by great steamships of the time and trains. Later, the transportation would transition to buses and cars. The Rockland, Blue Hill, Ellsworth Steamboat Company, which later became part of the Eastern Steamship Company, offered high class transportation to rusticators and others wishing to travel to and from Maine. Steamships traveled from Boston, Massachusetts to Bangor, Maine. Parker Point had its own wharf where a steamship transported people to and from Rockland. Train travel was somewhat more difficult and required a fourteen-mile coach or carriage drive over rough roads to get from the train depot in Ellsworth to Blue Hill.

A rusticator could travel from Ellsworth to New York by overnight train. Mothers with children would come and visit Maine while the father would stay at home working. The father would take a train on Friday evening and spend the weekend with his family and go back on Sunday night by train and be ready for work on Monday morning.

Many elegant cottages were built for and owned by rusticators on Parker Point. Although they were called cottages, these houses were generally spacious and suited to social gatherings and gracious living.

In 1884, Wilde Rose, now named Shoreacre, was the first cottage to be built on Parker Point. Shoreacre was built by George W. Butler. The house was originally painted eight different colors. Shoreacre has changed over time and become significantly bigger. Some other cottages that still exist from the rusticator period include Ingleside, Mossledge, Sunset Cliff, and Seven Oaks.

Activities of the rusticators included carriage rides, sailing, hiking, tennis, golf, and elegant parties. As a way to relax, some rusticators spent time in swings, hammocks, and rocking chairs. Opportunities for sailing were offered by both The Homestead and The Blue Hill Inn, as well as private offerings. Sailing was very popular among rusticators. Some of the early sailboats were named the Thistle, the Troubadour, and the Indra. Rusticators often went on hikes and after dinner excursions. Hiking was popular and many used handcrafted wooden canes when hiking. Some popular places to hike were Blue Hill Mountain and the Blue Hill Falls Bridge. On Parker Point, a tennis court was built in 1912 by George Cochran. The tennis court is now gone and all that can be seen is a flattened area where pines have grown up. In the early twentieth century, a golf course was established on Parker Point where a club house was later built in 1912. The golf course was expanded through the purchase of more land in the 1920’s. In 1925, the main golf course still in use today was designed in by Eugene Wogan. The golf course was renamed The Blue Hill Country Club in 1928. The Blue Hill Country Club hosted and continues to host social functions. Parties and gatherings with music were prevalent among rusticators. There were even measuring parties where the community got together and measured the height of the children in a traditional manner.

Rusticators were economically beneficial to Blue Hill by using the resources and services of local businesses, such as the Merrill and Hinckley store and Horton's Dairy, as well as providing employment for many local residents of Blue Hill. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Parker Point was only a summer community and it remains much the same today, though there are considerably more year round residents.

The term rusticator is rarely used to describe current summer residents of Blue Hill. By WWII, the lifestyle had changed and the term started to be used less to describe the summer residents. The early 1900’s saw many new cottages built but by mid-Century the building of new cottages came to a near standstill.

As time went by, other groups of summer residents followed in the footsteps of rusticators and came to summer in Blue Hill. In the 1950’s people coming to Maine from away were referred to as “straphangers” because they rode subways where one had to hang on to straps while riding. Today, people who come to spend summer in Maine are usually referred to as people “from away” or simply “summer people”.

The rusticators brought a new way of life to the area and expanded many cultural and recreational activities that still make Blue Hill a very special place to visit. Summer residents of Blue Hill still come to enjoy the many opportunities and experiences the area has to offer, which benefits the local economy and contributes to Blue Hill’s rich culture and identity.