Blue Hill Falls, Maine 04615

"Blue Hill Falls" appears on most maps and is in the southern part of the town of Blue Hill. It is not the Falls and it is NOT in South Blue Hill.
1. Type "Blue Hill Falls" on any map application and you'll be taken to LaVeque Lane and Parker Point Road, the rough geographic center of Blue Hill Falls.
2. Type "The Blue Hill Falls" and it will take you to The Blue Hill Falls - two distinct & related places.  
3. Type "South Blue Hill" and it will take you to the South Blue Hill Wharf.

Hancock Country Atlas - 1881 (Blue Hill Falls District is West & North of Blue Hill Neck. South Blue Hill not referenced at the time)

Current Topographical Map from www.topozone.com

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Welcome!
     Blue Hill Falls, Maine, the area of Blue Hill that had been called the "Tide Mill District" (or neighborhood) many years ago, includes the land/waters from the lot once known as the Coggin Lot on the Mill Pond (on which the Issac Merrill house (1831) sits) and The Blue Hill Falls to Bragdon Brook, including Mill Island. It does not include the Blue Hill Neck. Mill Island was the part of Plantation #5, first settled in the spring of 1762. In 1765, a dam and water powered mill were constructed to use the force of the water from what is now Mill Pond. The original tidal cove was dammed in the process to create the Mill Pond, which served many functions over the years.
      As a result of residents efforts, Blue Hill Falls is home to the oldest man made structure in continuous use - whose purposes changed over time. That structure is the Mill Pond Dam. It had been called the Mill Dam, Tide Mill Dam and the Tide Mill Bridge. As a point of fact, it is not a causeway. Causeways are not built to control the flow of water. The basis for the dam began in 1765 as "Endeavour" - a tidal dam that restricted and harnessed the flow of water to generate power for grist & lumber milling related work (see pg 24, Head of the Bay by Annie Clough). Damage to it has increased exponentially in the last 25+ years due to the increase in truck and vehicle trafficc that is damaging the dam's structure. The Falls Bridge has been weight limited, but the Mill Pond Dam has not.  
     For perspective, the photos below include Blue Hill Falls (north & west of the Falls Bridge). The land south of the falls is the Blue Hill Neck. The Blue Hill Neck and Blue Hill Falls (Tide Mill District) were effectively separated by water until the first iron bridge was built in 1883, though wood bridges had been unsuccessfully attempted in the mid-1800's. They were vulnerable to the current, high water, and ice and did not last long. From the Neck to the Blue Hill Village people had to travel by boat or overland to the south - below the Salt Pond to the Old Sedgwick Stage Road.
     Those two areas once included district schools and post offices. 
The Post Offices (PO)
     1. South Blue Hill PO (on The Neck) - operated from 23 June 1886 to 15 September 1923.
     2. Blue Hill Falls PO - operated from May 1, 1852 to January 8, 2005. 
          a. In 1946 the Postal Service work moved from Blue Hill Falls to the Blue Hill Neck - operating as the Blue Hill PO. In 1963 it was assigned Zip Code (04615) when that system was first introduced. 
          b. A Blue Hill Falls PO building on Conary Cove still exists, but has been moved back from the road as it grew wider, sitting back on the Herrick property (Lt. blue siding).
Schools
​The school houses (SH) are annotated by "SH" in the 1881 maps provided below. 
     1. The Blue Hill Falls school was located at the head of Conary Cove (see slideshow) though it closed in 1908 and standing in 1931 but was removed in that decade. 
     2. The Blue Hill Neck school was located just north of the South Blue Hill Cemetery. The date of its closing is not known nor its removal.
The Blue Hill Academy was founded in 1803 in the Blue Hill Village for upper (secondary) school students under the "guardianship" of the Congregational Church - with the Rev. Jonathan Fisher as its board president. That board eventually merged with the George Stevens Academy (founded 1898) which was incorporated as the Blue Hill-George Stevens Academy in 1943. It was not until 1968 that it became known solely as the George Stevens Academy. The original Blue Hill Academy wood structure was sold and moved in 1832 near the village waterfront, with a replacement brick structure completed in 1833 (see duffy-wescottpost95.org). That structure is currently having its own revival.
     For more information from Ester E. Wood on The Blue Hill Academy and George Stevens Academy, see: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1671612231/georgestevensacademyorg/asuooo1mefqushjyj0uf/GSA_History_by_Esther-Wood.pdf.
     The last map of the area below is from Annie Clough's book, "Head of the Bay" and the book is viewable and downloadable below.

​     A prominent structure - one that has been well photographed over the years, is the "red boathouse" on Conary Cove. To many, we know it as the LeVeque Boathouse. Built in 1924 by the Haskell family who summered in Blue Hill, it was for the storage and repair of boats and was not a commercial boatyard. Prior to the early 50's it was painted (stained) white. It was subsequently modified and repainted red by the LeVeque family in the early 50's, as it remains today.

The Tide Mill Dam with bridge noted by angular trusses - on left and the Benjamin Clay House to the right. Two masts are on a lumber schooner in Conary Cove. See related photo to the right. The Tide Mill no longer exists and lumber was being loaded for transport.

Schooner loading lumber on Conary Cove pre-1907. Schooner is using a crib wharf whose remains still exist in the cove at that location. Photo taken from vicinity of the Blue Hill Falls School. Manor House is to the right and no boathouse on the cove!

The LeVeque Boathouse with crib pier ~1950 and built for the Haskell Family - Photo by Nevill Smythe

LeVeque Boathouse In the late 1950's - Photo by Nevill Smythe

In most of the photos below, the "utility" poles seen carry phone lines (only). Telephone came before electricity - long before - and separate electrical poles were added about 1913. They were separate for decades with electrical safety and ownership two key reasons, often sitting on opposite sides of the roadway. 
 - See if you can find the photos with both telephone & electricity poles. In only one is it relatively easy to see. 

Hancock County Atlas - 1881, Mill Pond Center Right, School House (SH) & Grist Mill (GM)

Blue Hill, Blue Hill Falls District & Blue Hill Neck - from Annie Clough's "Head of the Bay"

Blue Hill, as surveyed in 1902. State of Maine, Blue Hill Quadrangle 1904

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Something to Read (can't see the documents - they're attached to download)
Want to know more about Blue Hill and Blue Hill Falls - the area once known was Tide Mill District?
     The attached book - Historical Sketches of Bluehill, Maine by R. G. F. Candage, was printed for the Bluehill Historical Society in 1905. It is a great detailed read and may shed light on a few things you might not know. Of particular interest may be the areas known as "The Neck" and Tide Mill District (or Neighborhood) which is specifically referenced on pages 3 thru 30 (1st para.). Also significant and perhaps more so is the earlier "Settlement and Progress of the Town of Blue Hill..." - also by R. G. F. Candage, but in 1886. 
     "The Tide Mill neighborhood began at the Coggin lot (on the current Salt Pond Rd.) and extended to Bragdon's Brook and just beyond, where the schoolhouse stood in which the writer first learned to lisp his "A B C's." (R. G. F. Candage quote - Page 14), Discussion on a bridge to the Neck occurred before 1842 (Page 11).
​(NOTE(s):  1. The Coggin Lot is noted on the Map from Rev. Fisher's drawing of the area and was on the Mill Pond and the old stage Rd. which was on part of the current Mill Pond Ln.
2. The RED symbol locations are inaccurate for houses relative to their actual placement relative to the dirt roads of the time. Manor House, The BH Post Office, the Wood House and perhaps others are on the incorrect side.) 
     Additionally, one of the eight Proprietors who proposed the settlement of the larger area, for 352 named subscribers, gained an early area name association:  "McHards," what is now East Blue Hill. James McHard is referenced with the seven other Proprietors on page 3, the 1st written page of the book.
     James McHard, and two of his sons (William and James Jr.) are noted in the book by Rufus Candage but only as a Proprietor or Subscriber. The details of how "McHards" came to be called that is becoming clear - even more so is that none of the three ever settled in the area. McHards became known as the village of East Blue Hill in 1871 and had always been a part of the settlement area, though almost impossible to get to, as there was no road to that part of the town until the 1870's. The road built went down what is now the York Rd. and then straight down a steep hill (Hyer's Hill) to the road currently known as the Jay Carter Rd. A private house and utility poles placed on the hill to the Jay Carter Rd. exist there now. Some in the area still remember walking up Hyer's Hill, named after the family that owned the land.
     The current RT 176 (East Blue Hill Rd.) - from Woods Pt. Rd. to the village at the bridge - is a modification of that early road and was completed sometime in the 1900s to bypass the hill. How things change.... The name spelling "McHard" is correctly referenced in Annie's book as an added benefit in getting this far. Please see, read and enjoy.
Note:
A corrections (mine) to the book"Head of the Bay" by Annie Clough, published in 1953 1. Page 41,  number 18. Manor House in Blue Hill Falls, was bought by Mrs. Samuel Ashhurst (corrected spelling) in 1926 from Mary B . McCreight, with a small adjacent property to the north purchased in 1927 from Chandler M. Wilson. Both were combined into one property. Mrs. Nevin sold Manor House to Mary McCreight in 1914.
2. Page 16 (East Blue Hill).  Neither Joseph McHard nor his sons settled in Blue Hill (i.e. McHards). In Joseph Sr's probated will registered in Rockingham, New Hampshire, 16 July 1771, his interests in Township 3 (Sedgwick) & 4 (Penobscot) were to become associated with three nephews. His son Joseph Jr. was the executor and all lived in Haverhill. 
3. Only one of the men, either Proprietor (8) or the Subscribers (~350) who petitioned the Proprietors, and subsequently the Massachusetts General Court, settled in the Townships granted in 1762. That single Haverhill, Massachusetts man was Jonathan Buck of Bucksport fame and legend.

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Only one of the men out of the eight Proprietors and 350 Subscribers who'd petitioned the Proprietors from Haverhill, ever settled west of the Union River. That single Haverhill man was Jonathan Buck who settled in what is now Bucksport and named after him.

The Map above is from the inside cover of Mary Ellen Chase's book on Reverend Fisher. Note the map development. Rev. Fisher only added to it and errors do exist.

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HistoricalSketchesOfBlueHill-RGFCandage-1905.pdf
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Settlement&ProgressofBH-RGFCandage-1886.pdf
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HeadOfTheBay- AnnieClough-1953.pdf
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     The Massachusetts General Court granted twelve townships along the Union River (formerly known as the Donaqua or Mount Desert River) in 1762. Six were laid out to the west in the Penobscot Bay region at the Union River and six were laid out east of the Union River. Referred to as plantations in some sources, the term "township" was more consistent as were the associated system of numbering before the Townships became Towns. 
     The twelve townships were split into two geographic groups, which eventually became several distinct modern-day municipalities in Hancock and Washington counties: [1, 2]
West of the Union River
     Granted to an association of petitioners led by David Marsh, these six townships (each measuring six miles square) were located between the Penobscot River and the Union River: [1, 2, 3]

• Township No. 1: Bucksport (formerly Buckstown)
• Township No. 2: Orland
• Township No. 3: Penobscot
• Township No. 4: Sedgwick
• Township No. 5: Blue Hill
• Township No. 6: Surry [1, 2, 3, 4]
• East of the Union River
  These six townships were also granted in 1762, with several of them starting as numbered plantations (e.g., Plantation No. 5): [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Township No. 1: Trenton
• Township No. 2: Sullivan
• Township No. 3: Mount Desert (including early settlements like Bar Harbor, later incorporated)
• Township No. 4: Steuben (first established as Plantation No. 4)
• Township No. 5: Harrington (initially organized as Plantation No. 5)
• Township No. 6: Addison [1, 2, 3, 4]

     The grantees were initially given just a few years to establish a specific number of Protestant families on the land. Because many of the stringent settlement conditions were never met, the original grants technically lapsed, creating legal turmoil that was ultimately settled by Massachusetts quieting the titles for actual settlers in 1784. [1, 2, 3]

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​The Mill Pond Dam - Blue Hill Falls, Maine
By Butler Smythe​

     In 1762, Joseph Wood and John Roundy arrived in the district of Maine, then a part of Massachusetts, spending their first night on an island on the western side of the large bay in what was to become Plantation #5. That island would be called Mill Island, a part of the Plantation that would become the Tide Mill District, and eventually Blue Hill Falls subsequent to the 1789 incorporation of the town of Blue Hill. On the west-northwest side of the island was an unnamed cove that would become the Mill Pond. Its waters fed by fresh water streams and a large body of water, today’s Blue Hill Bay, and its clear cold tidal waters that flowed in and out of the shallow cove. The same occurred similarly in the adjacent cove that would be known in the late 1800's as Conary Cove. The outgoing tides left a mud flat, great for finding clams, worms, and other hidden treasures below the soft surface. At that time there was no barrier to the full flow and effects of the tides. 
Then came more settlers in the later 1700’s with human activities and needs. After Wood and Roundy’s arrival, others followed and concentrated their lives near those two coves before The Head of the Bay (Blue Hill) was eventually settled. The early settlers determined that the shallow cove’s large opening to the bay would be a prime location for the building of a dam to harness the power of the tides. Though there were two openings to the cove, the one to the south was too small and was limited in its power generation potential, though it could be readily dammed across its full width (just 15 feet or so). The larger opening could be blocked in part, though with greater effort than for the one to the south, but the rewards were greater. Between 1763 and 1765 a stone dam was raised, extending from each side of the opening and never fully closing the cove off from the bay. Its structure evolved in subsequent years. The original mill and related dam was called Endeavour. Today, 260+ years later, the limits of that dam can be identified by the stone structure on each end and the granite center structure with its regulating opening seen at lower tide levels.
     The dam built by the original settlers and operators of the mills (two) that were built there, supported their immediate needs for wood and food (lumber and grist milling). Both mills were in the same structure - adjacent to each other but separate for obvious reasons (lumber & food). The water in the cove rose and fell, but with the tidal flow restricted, never fully filling the old cove before the incoming tide reversed itself and the waters receded. At that point in time, and with the various mill structures in place that used the power from the increased tidal pressures at the opening which could be physically regulated, the cove became a functional pond as well as a source of tidal power from both the incoming and outgoing tides. The cove became the mill’s pond – The “Tide Mill Pond” (or today’s Mill Pond). 
Bridging the gap in the dam was a necessity for access to the mill that stood on the bay side of the dam and the adjacent Mill Island. Later in the dam’s life, when the mills were no longer viable, the wood “bridge” across the gap was remade to allow ships built in the Mill Pond to be floated out to the bay – much as the ships built in the Salt Pond did through the “unbridged” Blue Hill Falls. 
     Only in later years (late 1800’s), when the mill structure was long gone and vessels were no longer built on the pond, did the opening become further restricted by the placement of granite blocks to bridge the gap - yet an opening still allowed the tides to refresh the Mill Pond’s salt waters. The pond had served many uses over time, including being reserved for lobster pound purposes by Albert R. Conary, the Blue Hill Falls Postmaster from approximately 1916 to 1946. 
     Later, in the ~mid-1900’s, two women decided to occasionally have the opening further restricted (not closed) with a wooden planked barrier on both sides of the dam’s opening, further decreasing the flow of the cold water. That barrier effectively increased the temperature of the pond’s water to allow for more comfortable swimming temperatures, though the negative effect was a dramatic increase in bottom grasses (eelgrass in particular) which thrived in the warmer waters and overwhelmed the pond and its shoreline. The barriers were subsequently removed, in part because the women no longer used the pond to swim and because of complaints from the children using it. My grandmother was one of those two women and I was one of the children.
     The dam was now fully-bridged when compared to the wooden structure that had at one time bridged the gap, by granite blocks, covering stones, gravel and subsequently the asphalt that rests there today. The change was in part because of the increasing demand for a passage to and from the Blue Hill Neck to the south. The related demand caused the building of a relatively short-lived wooden bridge across the reversing falls on the south side of Mill Island. The wooden bridge had been built to overcome the need for the rowing of boats across the gap to the Salt Pond, but was short lived because of the power of the fall’s waters. The failure of that bridge structure and the subsequent replacement by longer-lived iron bridge structures as well as the concrete 1926 Stevens Bridge, changed forever the Mill Pond Dam. Changed again today is the Stevens Bridge of 1926 (Falls Bridge) that has been replaced by another, after almost 100 years, that now crosses the gap of the reversing falls of Blue Hill. 
The granite “bridge” in the Mill Pond Dam spans the gap needed for the mills and ships, and a smaller opening in the dam now regulates the Mill Pond’s water volume. That is what dams do. Over time the depth of the pond has been affected by sediment not able to exit the dam’s opening, with the effect noted by shallower depths at high tide and those especially at a low. You can readily stand (or sink) in the oozy mud bottom at all tides.

The Nub (the islands), Mill Pond Dam and Mill Island - with The Falls Bridge, The Blue Hill Neck and Long Island

The Tide Mill's Dam - with a bridge - after the Tide Mill was removed

Mill Pond Dam from Manor House (granite area where bridge spanned)

The Mill Pond Dam - Outgoing tide (granite facing only on Bay side)

A bit more History...
There are actually two dams in Blue Hill that now carry road traffic. Do you know the other shown below? Here it is before the freshwater stream was dammed in the late 1800's. This is the dam on the Parker Point side of the Blue Hill Country Club that now contains a fresh water, stream fed, pond.