The Rev. Jonathan Fisher (1768 - 1847) was at the core of cultural and religious life in Blue Hill, Maine, from the mid-1790's until his death a half-century later. A graduate of Harvard College and a native of Braintree, Massachusetts, Fisher supplied the pulpit of the Blue Hill Congregational Church when that religion was still supported by town taxes. Though Fisher witnessed the erosion of his religion's secular power, he left his mark as a founder of the Bangor Theological Seminary and as a shaper of and commentator on his times. He was a self-taught painter of portraits, landscapes and still-lifes, and an author and wood engraver of works including the charming "Scripture Animals" (1837). A one-man cultural flowering, he attracted the attention of 20th century scholars, most notably Mary Ellen Chase, who wrote Jonathan Fisher: Maine Parson, 1768 - 1847 (New York: 1948) and Alice Winchester who authored Versatile Yankee: The Art of Jonathan Fisher, 1768 - 1847 (Princeton, 1973). His home is open to the public as The Jonathan Fisher Memorial, Inc., Blue Hill, Maine 04611 (207 374-2780) and examples of his paintings are in the collections of the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, and the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.

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