NEW GLOUCESTER — A long driveway off the Tobey Road ascends toward Jonathan S. Lee’s 1760s-era Georgian Colonial home on 63 acres.

Two llamas stand guard over a flock of chickens and guinea hens. The summer garden lies idle under a blanket of snow, while large trees and stonewalls form the boundaries to what is yet to come.

Here the Machiah Center, a retreat for activists and scholars, is expected to open in 2015 when the dormitories for guests are completed.

The Machiah Center, a nonprofit program, is Jonathan Lee’s creation after years of advocacy for gay rights, pacifism and justice.

The center will provide a seasonal retreat to provide rest, reflection and fellowship to small groups of activists and scholars who are trying to make the world a better place.

“I want my center to be a place that convenes people where they can get a broad perspective, a humanistic perspective. … I’m driven by my passion, enthusiasm and interest. I want to learn more,” the 58-year-old Lee said.

As the plan for the center developed, Lee sought assistance from 30 advisers from Maine and beyond. The Machiah Center will be based on a seasonal retreat approach, but it will offer community outreach to the general public.

“I tend to take things on that I haven’t done before and needed to find someone to help keep me grounded,” Lee said. He found help forging his plan by teaming up with Ellen Ryan, a former community organizer.

Recently the Machiah Center, the Maine Humanities Council and the Lewiston Public Library formed a partnership, bringing a talk and discussion session of author Adam Hochschild’s book “To End All Wars, a Story of Loyalty and Rebellion from 1912-18.” Hochschild is a summer resident of Turner.

The discussion series is being offered in St. Agatha, Lewiston, Belfast, Tenants Harbor and the Togus Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Chelsea.

Family values

Lee said his father, Shep Lee, instilled a strong sense of responsibility for social causes in his four children. A successful businessman who formed one of the largest and most successful auto dealerships in Maine, Lee Auto, the elder Lee also had a track record in social activism.

“My father was a liberal democratic activist and civil libertarian who founded the ACLU in Maine and was on the national board,” Lee said. “My father said that’s what my Jewish faith means, to connect to those who are mistreated.”

Brother Adam Lee, who oversees the family business, also heeded the call to activism, in particular involving environmental causes. He is the chairman of the Efficiency Maine Trust and has organized corporate support for Maine Audubon and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, among other efforts.

And Lee said his sister Cathy is a passionate advocate for women’s issues and related projects in the developing world. Her company, Lee International, specializes in business development around greenhouse gas emissions trading. In addition, the University of Maine School of Law established its Justice for Women Lecture Series in 2011 with Lee’s guidance and support.

Another sister lives in New York and works as a family therapist.

The Paul Goodman influence

Jonathan Lee said he’s been involved in social activism since the 1970s. He said his critical thinking for more than 30 years has been influenced by activist Paul Goodman. Lee said Goodman, a social critic, poet, philosopher of education and the co-founder of gestalt therapy, had a profound influence on him.

In the 1970s, Lee said he began organizing teach-ins on the Vietnam War at the Choate School, after President Richard Nixon sent troops to Cambodia. He later became the founding director of the Maine Speakout Project for gay rights.

After taking a short sabbatical in Brazil, Lee began his first ever film-making project in 1988, which culminated in Lee’s documentary movie “Paul Goodman Changed My Life,” released in March 2011.

The film has circulated widely throughout Maine and the country. Recently screened at Brunswick’s Frontier Cafe and Cinema and the Portland Museum of Art, the film is slated for a showing at Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville, as well as in Bangor and Stonington.

After completing the film Lee moved back to Maine from New York City, establishing his home in New Gloucester and initiating his efforts to create the Machiah Center.