About Jonathan Fisher House

The Jonathan Fisher House offers tours, lectures, and events to visitors and its community throughout the summer and early fall. It is maintained and operated by Jonathan Fisher Memorial, Inc., a Blue Hill, Maine non-profit, with the support of a growing network of members and volunteers, dedicated to the preservation of Jonathan Fisher's legacy and its impact on local history.

Our mission

To preserve the home, art, and life of Jonathan Fisher in order to engage, inspire, and educate visitors and community members of all ages through connection to our past.

Statement of Identity

The Jonathan Fisher Memorial is dedicated to preserving the home and works of one of the remarkable figures of early New England, the Rev. Jonathan Fisher. Fisher made a great impact on his community and time with his lively intellect and many artistic, agricultural, and scientific pursuits. His spirit of self-sufficiency serves as inspiration for current and future generations seeking to learn about the history of the Maine coast and the Early American Republic. The organization preserves, protects, and curates the items and stories from Fisher’s life for the education and enjoyment of the public.
 

Current Activities

• Regular Tours of the Jonathan Fisher homestead

• Educational Programs for school-aged children throughout the year

• Summer events with music, crafts and tours

• Strategic Planning for preservation, support and outreach

• Consultation for preservation of buildings, paintings, documents and other collections

• Structural repairs and buildings and grounds maintenance

Support

The Fisher House welcomes interested individuals or organizations to support our efforts. Make a donation to preserve Jonathan Fisher's legacy here.

Volunteer

The organization happily accepts volunteers who wish to donate their time to the Jonathan Fisher House. For more information, please contact us directly.

Board of Directors

The Jonathan Fisher Memorial, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization that manages the Fisher House and its activities. Our Board of Directors meets monthly. Meet the Board:

Hannah Cyrus is the current Board President. She has been on the Fisher House board since 2016, and is passionate about providing engaging, informative, and fun programs to bring Fisher's legacy to the community. Hannah works as a public librarian and lives in Blue Hill.

Brad Emerson is the current Vice President of the Board of Directors. He is an antiques dealer and part time writer who has served on the Fisher House off and on for many years.

Deborah Little is the Board Treasurer, and a summer resident of Blue Hill (winter in Dallas). She thoroughly enjoys history, loves Blue Hill, and thought that finding more out about the history of Blue Hill through the Jonathan Fisher House would be very interesting, being pleased to learn about Dolly Fisher's life, too. Deborah notes, “Every time I go to the Jonathan Fisher House I learn something new or meet someone interesting. Looking forward to raising funds to repair this very important historical gem in Blue Hill.”

Merrill Slaven Brache is the organization’s Secretary, and a third generation docent and board member at the Fisher House. She is a descendant of Blue Hill's first settler Joseph Wood. She holds degrees in Environmental Science and Nursing from UMO and works at the Blue Hill Public Library, and is passionate about history and travel.

Christopher Scott Brumfield is an artist, teacher, art historian, writer, and avid horticulturist. Christopher joined the Fisher House Board In 2023, after starting as a volunteer at the house in 2022. For Christopher, the Fisher House is a perfect balance of art, culture, architecture, and the natural world. Christopher grew up in Louisiana and spent a lot of his childhood visiting house museums and historical sites in the French Quarter of New Orleans and other parts of South Louisiana. He shares his life with his husband Dan, three dogs, one cat, and way too many plants. He Is an associate professor of art at Baton Rouge Community College and divides his time between Blue Hill ME and Baton Rouge LA.

Jessica Burchett is currently completing a Master's in Museum Studies at the Cooperstown Graduate Program. Following this degree, she aims to work in a historic house in Maine, and is particularly interested in sharing historic narratives with the public and providing programming for the community. She first visited the Fisher House a couple of years ago when doing some independent research with the Southwest Harbor Historical Society. Her interests lie with the lives of "ordinary" people, and she is intrigued by Fisher's character and the great opportunity his well-preserved house and records give us to understand that era of Blue Hill's past, remaining curious about the life of Dolly and other women in the community.

Nevan Carling is a preservation timber framer specializing in the research and repair of historic buildings using traditional tools and techniques. His interests are in the social roles that the built environment played in creating and surrounding identities in the past, with a special focus in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nevan is a recent graduate of the University of York in the United Kingdom with a degree in Archaeology and Heritage Management. He is pursuing his MSc degree in Timber Building Conservation at the Weald and Downland Living History Museum in Chichester, England.

Leslie Cummins, along with her husband Tim Seabrook, has cared for the Fisher House’s historic orchard for many years, in addition to serving on the Board. Leslie and Tim founded 5 Star Nursery and Orchard in Brooklin and owned it for 34 years before opening Back Light Grafika in Blue Hill. Leslie is an accomplished painter who has exhibited at Colby College and the University of Maine at Orono, has added her own color thought through the deft and sensitive touch of chromologist to CLOSE APART=Beatrix Gates, poetry, and Tim Seabrook etchings. She attended the Art Students League, Boston Museum School, Montreal Museum School and Syracuse Art School, and helped found The Laughing Lion Gallery at Rowantrees Pottery in 1977.

Michael McVaugh is a professor of history (retired) at the University of North Carolina who has been a summer resident of Hancock County for sixty years. He has been a dedicated docent and board member for many years now and he spends his free time transcribing Fisher’s sermons from his shorthand, including teaching a shorthand workshop on Fisher’s sermons—only 2800 more to go!

Maxfield Rhine was raised in Blue Hill and graduated from several of Blue Hill’s educational institutions. He joined the Fisher House in 2022 because he is passionate about preserving and sharing what the Fisher House holds in its collections and archives. He is excited to ensure its safety and see that it is used as a tool to benefit the community, as the many works of Jonathan Fisher offer incredible insights for all of New England.

Stephen Shea, a retired builder, lives with his wife Jane in Ellsworth. Jane and Stephen have two daughters and four grandchildren who also live in Ellsworth. Stephen has served on a number of nonprofit boards and committees, joining the Fisher House Board in September of 2022. He has particular interests in both the preservation and restoration of historic properties and local history.

Affiliations

The Jonathan Fisher House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a member of Maine Archives and Museums and the American Association for State and Local History, as well as an Affiliate member of Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.