Jonathan Fisher House

Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847) was the first settled minister of Blue Hill, Maine. But that designation understates his dizzying array of talents. Fisher was also an artist, builder, farmer, scientist, surveyor, linguist, writer, husband, and father. At the Jonathan Fisher House, we preserve the 1814 home he designed and built, as well as collections showcasing his many interests and accomplishments.

Fisher painted this self-portrait four times throughout his life, with three copies in possession of Fisher House and the fourth at the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill. Fisher worked in many media: oil, watercolors, woodcuts, drawings, and more. His most famous painting, “A Morning View of Blue Hill Village,” was created with the help of a camera obscura of his own construction, on display at the Fisher House. His keen observations of the natural world remain valuable to this day, including his drawings of sunspots made around the "Year Without a Summer" (1816-17).

Fisher was a self-taught architect, and we have his original design drawings—quite unusual for a home of a person of his income level. The house itself is remarkable, unique in its design, construction, and level of documentation, but also representative of an important architectural era and socioeconomic class in Maine.

After building a small three-room structure for he and his wife in 1796, Fisher began to draw up plans for an extension to the home during the winter of 1814. He settled on the final form of the building in February.

On January 18, 1814, Fisher “engaged Mr. J. Holt to frame my house for me next June.” The parson kept to this schedule, and on June 21, 1814, the frame of Fisher’s house was raised into place. His journal shows that he finally painted the exterior four years later, thus completing construction.

At the end of the 19th century, Fisher’s grandchildren renovated the home. They tore down the original 1796 house and replaced it with a two-story addition. A further addition to accomodate exhibition space and offices was built in the 1970s. In spite of these changes, Fisher’s main house of 1814-18 is remarkably intact."

Fisher's journals abound with entries about potatoes, beans, and (his favorite) melons. Today, we retain a pear tree top-grafted by Fisher—over 200 years old and still producing—and a reconstruction of Fisher’s apple orchard, based on his original map. These fruits are harvested each year and pressed into cider at our annual end-of-season celebration; photo taken at our 2023 event.

Jonathan Fisher loved language and was fluent in at least six. He also invented his own “philosophical alphabet”—a shorthand that saved him paper and ink over the course of his life, and which has proven a stimulating challenge for future scholars!

Fisher’s most commercially successful work was Scripture Animals, a book featuring his woodcuts of every animal mentioned in the Bible. We hold his engraving tools, several of the original woodblocks, and many copies of different editions of the book.

In addition to the house, Fisher built tools and furniture, some for his own use and others for sale to supplement his income. From rustic cabinets and rough-hewn but functional tools to polished pieces made for wedding gifts, Fisher’s skill with woodworking is apparent in the house.