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Bousquetaerials.com / NATE BOUSQUET

Are the grid-like lines in the sand, seen to the left of Charlestown’s Quonochontaug Breachway in this aerial photo, part of the efforts to restore the health of South County’s salt marshes? Signs of aquaculture? Manifestations of alien visitation?

No, says Laura Ricketson-Dwyer, public educator and information coordinator for the state Coastal Resources Management Council; they’re “old mosquito ditches. They were used primarily to drain marsh areas to eliminate mosquito breeding pools.

“Done either for mosquito control or for farming purposes, in New England and nationwide that was a pretty common practice, at least leading up to the early 20th century,” she says. “We have GIS (geographic information system) photos that show those ditches go back beyond 1939, and folks are telling me that it is a practice that dates back, possibly, prior to the 19th century.”

The photos in this series are shot from a 2½-pound radio-controlled airplane mounted with a camera, and operated by Nate Bousquet of Don Bousquet and Son Aerial Photography.

—ALAN ROSENBERG

South County Regional Editor