A History of
George Stevens Academy by Esther E. Wood
George Stevens Academy is an independent high school located on the coast of Maine. Grounded in its traditions and commitment to the area's small towns, the Academy is a caring educational community invested in meeting the needs of each student.The Academy offers a challenging, comprehensive program of studies that fosters intellectual inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge, inspires creativity, develops self-reliance, and prepares its graduates for a purposeful life in an ever-changing world.
Mission Statement, approved by Board 7/2007
{GSA Building} The parent-school of George Stevens Academy was Blue Hill Academy, the seventh such institution in the District of Maine and the first in Hancock County. In 1803, John Peters, a surveyor and large landowner, rode on horseback to Boston and presented to the General Court of Massachusetts a request for the incorporation of an academy. His request was granted; he returned home in triumph; a building was constructed in the village; students were enrolled the spring of 1803. The wheels of education turned with rapidity.
The Academy soon employed a preceptor and two teachers. Its course of study included Greek, Latin and navigation. The last was a practical and popular subject for native young men who went fishing on the Grand Banks; who sailed on coasting schooners; who, as deep-water sailors, voyaged to the Indies, to Europe and China. There were four terms of school each year. Young men and women from nearby towns attended Blue Hill Academy and boarded in the homes of local families.
The school was in operation from 1803 to 1898 save for the year 1870 when there was a temporary closing. In 1832 the original Academy building was sold and moved. A brick building of beauty and dignity replaced the old wooden structure. The Duffy-Wescott Post of the American Legion now owns it.
Blue Hill Academy flourished under the guardianship of the Congregational Church. The Rev. Jonathan Fisher of that church gave the dedicatory address that opened the school and became the President of the Board of Trustees. The other trustees were all members of Parson Fisher's church. The first non-Congregationalist to become a member was George Stevens. He chafed under Congregationalist dominance. In 1832 he offered on his decease and that of his wife to give a thousand dollars and a piece of land to the Academy. His offer included this provision, "The institution shall be put on a liberal scale that all denominations shall have equal rights and privileges." The Academy trustees said, "no." Plainly the village leaders were no libertarians. Squire Stevens was not to be defeated. In his will of 1851 he provided that after his death and that of his wife his homestead, one hundred and fifty acres of land and a large portion of his personal property should be used to establish an academy. The will specified, "said Academy shall be located on the one half acre northwest of my dwelling house." The Squire chose the first board of trustees, a self-perpetuating board.
George Stevens was an able man. He was born in Andover, Massachusetts and came to Blue Hill in 1775. He became a ship owner and merchant. He early showed an interest in education. He and Jonah Holt sponsored the first singing school in town. He concerned himself with Colby College, then a Baptist institution. He endowed the local Baptist church with land and money. He gave a start to Thomas Lord whom he hired as a ship's carpenter. Lord became a talented architect, who designed churches for Blue Hill, Brooklin, Brooksville, Sedgwick and Ellsworth. He designed a number of houses, including the Greek Revival Morse House opposite George Stevens Academy.
In 1891 the Maine State Legislature incorporated George Stevens Academy. In 1897 the contract to build a building was awarded to George Butler. In 1898 the Academy opened its doors to students. The "Old Academy" cooperated with the new institution. Their boards merged but it was not until 1943 that the two groups merged and incorporated under the name of Blue Hill-George Stevens Academy. Officially the name of the institution is now George Stevens Academy. It serves not only Squire Stevens' town but all neighboring towns.
