A project more than a decade in the making to document North Andover's farming history is now as close as the local library's DVD shelf. North Andover Community Access and Media announced Thursday that Episode 1 of its documentary series "Farm Legacy" is available for checkout at Stevens Memorial Library.
The 34-minute documentary, subtitled "Farming Then and Now," first aired on North Andover CAM's cable channels last September and streams free on YouTube. It's a partnership between North Andover CAM, the North Andover Historical Society, and a group of dedicated volunteers, co-chaired by Anne Stork and Michael Smolak, owner of Smolak Farms. The team spent more than 10 years gathering oral histories, interviews, old photographs and documents to preserve the stories of the town's farm families before those stories disappear along with the land.
"Too often we've seen farms disappear from our landscape and we can't stop progress, but what we can do is try and capture that which has been here for quite a few years," Smolak said in the film.
Episode 1 traces what life was like growing up in a North Andover farm family, the current state of local agriculture, and what the future might hold. Farms have existed in town since about 1642, and roughly a quarter of North Andover's historical farm properties remain today — about 854 acres across 123 parcels, or 5% of the town's total land. Among them is Barker Farm, which the documentary calls the oldest continually run family farm in the country, tracing its roots directly back to 1642.
Episode 2, focused on technology and innovation on farms, premiered at the North Andover Historical Society's Worden Theater in May, and both episodes screened together at a public event at the library in early July.
Episode 1 is available for checkout at Stevens Memorial Library, 345 Main St., or free on YouTube. North Andover CAM, an independent nonprofit founded in 2004, operates three cable channels on Comcast and Verizon and can be reached at 978-687-6570. The library can be reached at 978-688-9505.
Also happening around town:
- North Andover Farmers Market — Sundays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., celebrating its 10th anniversary this year
- Andover Farmers Market — Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., celebrating 20 years this year
- Summer at the Stevens 2026 — "Plant A Seed, Read" programming all summer at Stevens Memorial Library
