Recently I wrote about the VintageAerial.com website, which offers thousands of old aerial photos from all over the country. Back in the 1960s, however, my parents had a huge photo of our farm and Center Pond, which they had ordered though the USGS (United States Geological Survey). The goal of both sites is very different, but the outcome is the same, a bird’s-eye view of the old homestead which you can use to enhance your family history.
Admittedly, the Vintage Aerial site is more user-friendly but part of the reason for that is their main audience is “civilian” and covers a more limited database, whereas the USGS is a government website used for government, scientific, educational as well as civilian purposes. The USGS Earth Explorer is a very interesting and useful website. It takes a while to figure out the terms you need to search for the photos you are looking for, and they offer many things I don’t even begin to understand, so I just ignore much of what is available on the site. To find aerial photos just go directly to: http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
Once there click on the plus sign on the map to zoom in on the area for which you want a photo. I find it best to click once on the plus sign then hold down the left click button to drag your desired area to the center of the map image. Repeat this one click at a time because the map zooms in pretty quickly and it is easy to lose track of a small area. Once you find the area you want to search click that place on the map. This will place a red “1” tag on the map and automatically enters the coordinates into your search criteria for you. You will next need to pick a “Dataset,” so click “Dataset” then “aerial imagery,” check mark any of the boxes which open up, then click on “results.” See what shows up, if you don’t find what you are looking for then click on the “dataset” tab to go back and choose a different dataset to search. I don’t understand what most of those datasets are, but you don’t need to, just try them and see what you get.
In addition, the Library of Congress and many other government and private websites hold old photos and maps that may have images of your family homestead. Use Google or another search engine with a variety of search terms to see what may be available. You can use these images in a comparison of today’s views of the family holdings. Scientists have long known that an aerial image can reveal former land uses, such as where buildings, fence lines, fields and gardens used to be. While a current satellite view may not show where Grampa’s barn used to be, an aerial photo from the ‘60s may show the no-longer visible outline, or the long-ago rotted stump of the oak tree used to define property lines in a land title deed. Once you begin to explore what may be available to you, it will open up a range of unexpected uses for these old treasures. Have fun exploring the maps and lands of your ancestors.
Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft is a longtime genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader emails are welcome at ninabrawn @gmail.com. Her semimonthly column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society which meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
