CARIBOU — For more than 20 years, Lauretta Bourgoine Blackstone and her husband, Orman (O.K.) would take pictures of potato houses, barns and farm machinery throughout Aroostook County during their Sunday drives.
Recently, Lauretta paired her compilation of photos with stories of farmers, both former and current, to create her book “Barns of Aroostook County,” published by Rooftop Publications of Camden.
After church at Holy Rosary in Caribou, the pair would hit the road. Nearly a third of the barns depitcted in the book are no longer standing due to changes in agriculture and the ravages of time.
“It was a natural thing to take a ride on a Sunday afternoon,” the author said, explaining that sometimes they’d drive 150 miles. With farming in their blood, the Blackstones’ were always on an informal quest to find barns for Lauretta to photograph, or antique farming equipment for O.K. to collect.
“He’d drive me all over the place,” Lauretta said with a smile in her voice. “He’d collect old equipment and tools, in the meantime, I would take pictures.”
While the over 2,000 photos laid in a collection for decades, the book was recently created with the help of Roger Akeley,
“I thought that it was time to put them in a book, and Roger encouraged me to do that, too. I’d put some of my pictures in his ‘Embedded Memories’ book, and thought ‘why not?’” Lauretta said.
The 81-page colorful book is on sale at York’s Bookstore in Houlton, Morningstar Art and Framing in Presque Isle, and Works of Heart and County Quik Print, both in Caribou. Books can also be purchased by contacting Lauretta at 493-3086.
“All who have lived in The County for a number of years will be sure to find some admired barns viewed every day, on the way to work or on jaunts throughout Aroostook’s rural roads,” Lauretta said.
