In an area where the second president of the United States practiced law, where British prisoners were housed during the Revolutionary War, and where ice was once harvested and shipped to India, Dresden farmers are still tilling the soil and raising livestock.

But those farmers aren’t taking a historical approach to marketing their wares. They have joined forces and created a regional identity: The Dresden Farmlands, which stretches along the Kennebec River about 10 miles south of Augusta for the entire length of Route 128, from Route 27 to the Woolwich town line.

The concept is garnering praise from state agriculture officials and already has become an area landmark.

Similar to clustering shops and stores within a mall, The Farmlands’ eight farms have bonded in identity, finding strength in numbers for advertising, building community, and providing what is called “agritainment.”

The Farmlands is just as much about offering and marketing an off-the-beaten-path destination and an experience as it is about selling tomatoes, garlic or beef.

“We wanted an identity,” goat farmer Marge Kilkelly said this week. “People drive by this 10-mile stretch and see farms, fields, vistas, crops, animals. But they will only see it in the future if they support it. There are 7,500 farms in Maine and 5,000 of them are part-time or small-scale farms. We need to cooperate and work together.”

According to Kilkelly, a former state senator who served on the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee, “People don’t plan their vacations around touring tract housing. The economic engine of agriculture is not going to happen on Route 1. Coming to The Farmlands can really be an event, an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate what is here.

“When people drive through town, they see the supermarket. They see the hardware store. They see the restaurant,” she said. “But the rural economy is virtually invisible. People don’t necessarily understand the economic engine that is out here.”

Four years ago, flower farmer James Peterson of Sunshine Farm and Fieldview Farm proposed that the eight area farmers band together to promote The Farmlands as a single identity, creating a regional brand.

“We all have different concepts,” Peterson said. “We have organic and conventional, and we don’t always agree.” But the diversity of the group is exactly what makes it appealing to customers.

Head over to Mark Smith’s Restless River Ranch and pick out a freezer lamb or order some firewood. Drive on to Popps’ Farm for pick-your-own-strawberries, cranberries or raspberries.

Dig your own daylilies at SunShine Farm, where they have more than 500 varieties, or stop at Bernard Carlson’s and gather some fresh garlic or dried gourds. Drive to Deb and Dan Burk’s Gotees Farm and bring home some goat milk soap and handspun yarn.

Pointing the way to the agriculture corridor are new signs funded by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, and the Time and Tide Resource Conservation and Development Council.

“What The Dresden Farmlands group has been doing is a great example of nature-based experiential tourism,” Deanne Herman of the marketing division of the Maine Department of Agriculture said this week. “Ideally there will be many more such trails or loops developed around the state that highlight not only farms, but also other natural and cultural rural gems for the benefit of both the visitor and the local businesses and communities.”

Herman said that Gov. John Baldacci has established a nature-based tourism initiative task force to implement the recommendations of a 2005 study on how best to coordinate development and promotion of natural resource and cultural experiential tourism throughout the state.

At Dresden, “Our diversity is our strength,” Kilkelly maintained.

Organic farmers Jan and Rob Goranson agreed.

“People know this as an agriculture region,” Jan Goranson said. “This land has been farmed for hundreds of years. Our identity is one of agricultural richness.”

The Goranson farm has been in the family since 1962 and was once a commercial potato farm. “We have moved from the commercial district to selling local,” she said. “We have the farm stand and supply three different farmers’ markets.”

But it is the experience of The Farmlands that many families are seeking and the farmers are providing.

“Within these 10 miles you can pick your own berries, dig your own flowers, or purchase fresh vegetables for dinner,” Goranson said. On Maine Maple Sunday last spring, more than 1,800 people showed up on Goranson’s farm.

On a Day Lily Day at Fieldview Farm last July, 1,500 people came to dig flowers over two days.

“We are so energized when people come on the farm,” Goranson said. “When they experience this way of life.”

Kilkelly said that is why The Dresden Farmlands can be a model of success for other agricultural areas.

“Whether you come to the farms and farm stands or go to the supermarkets, at the end of a day you still end up with a box of food,” Kilkelly said. “But when you come to the farms, when you experience this, there is a whole part of your soul that sings.”