During 1762, Blue Hill's two founders, John Roundy and Joseph Wood, sailed up the bay to disembark on Mill Island, next to the reversing falls. The French and Indian War was coming to a close. Eastward as well as westward out-migration was spurred by burgeoning population growth in southern New England. A recent rash of forest fires in lower New Hampshire stimulated eastward exploration for timber. The frontier dangers of harsh winter climate and wild animals remained. After building log cabins, Roundy and Wood returned to homes in Massachusetts to spend the first winter but returned with their families the following year to settle permanently in Blue Hill