A man from Vermont is travelling around Maine this fall, trying to piece together a history of the state's family farms.

He's doing it using vintage photographs...and some old fashioned detective work.

Amy Erickson has the story.


He's determined to put together a comprehensive history of family farms from one end of Maine to the other.

"I'm going to write stories about them. To re-capture the past like this would be incredible."

Berry's creating books to highlight Maine's farming history, but he's researching that history in an unusual way.

He's using old aerial photographs taken years ago by the folks at State Aerial Farm Statistics, based out of Ohio.

"It was a dairy farm. The Pattersons had it right through till 1896."

There are millions of the photos in existence. Salesmen used to peddle them to local farmers.

Berry's now tracing the flight path the aerial photographers took, and trying to put names to the Maine farms in the photos.

"It took me three months to do Aroostook County, and that was thousands of people that I interviewed."
"Each county that I do will have its own separate book."

Berry hopes the books will create a pictorial guide to Maine's farming heyday.

"As you're following the flight path, you're turning the page, you can see this beautiful farm and you're going to see who was there, who built it and the human interest stories."
"We're trying to recapture the past through these photos."

Amy Erickson, WABI TV5 News, Bangor.>

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