subject: Finding Family History To Visit [print this page] Finding Family History To Visit Finding Family History To Visit
Whether you're traveling on your own or on a multi-generational vacation, finding family history can be fun. Take your family on a trail through history... your family's history.
Visit the places of your childhood... or even the places of your parent's or grandparent's childhood. Multigenerational vacations present a unique opportunity for finding family history and having fun at the same time.
Show the kids the house or the town where you grew up. Have YOUR parents tell the kids what it used to be like "in the old days". It's their stories that can really engage your kids.
Did you grow up on a farm? Your parents will have all kinds of stories to tell, and if your kids have never been to a farm, there will be lots to learn. If the old farm is still in the family... what a great opportunity to visit with family, finding family history at the same time.
If everyone is long gone from the farm as my family is, you can at least see where the house is... or in my case where the homestead was. You could even take a farm stay vacation so the kids could learn a little about the workings of a farm.
Another idea is to find the town where your ancestors first disembarked when they immigrated to America or Canada or Australia or.... anywhere. We're a world full of people on the move, so countries everywhere have historical immigration centers, many even have immigration museums where you can look up records.... maybe find your ancestor listed. Even people whose ancestors immigrated long ago have fun tracing where their ancestors moved from and to.
If you have some extra cash, take your family to the country that your ancestors immigrated from! We think traveling is one of the best educational extracurricular activities you can do with your kids. It will give them a new cultural paradigm.... it gives them a whole new look at the world.
Some Danish friends of mine took their grandchildren from America to Copenhagen. The kids were "typical teens" acting bored with everything.... But they did soak up the culture. What they remembered was the ferry ride to Sweden and getting to walk around Copenhagen on their own and taking the train... alone! ...back to auntie's house.
They also came home with an appreciation for smorrebrod being those great open face sandwiches, not a smorgasbord spread in an all you can eat restaurant. Finding family history can be learning about cuisines around the world too!
If you can't travel, and you haven't ever cooked traditional dishes from the land your family came from, you can find a restaurant close to home and sample those dishes without getting on a plane.
We found "our" Scottish castle. There is even a castle hotel nearby that we could stay in as a family! Now there is NO royalty in our background, but come on.... staying in a castle... tell me what kid wouldn't think that was kind of cool.
Finding family history can spice up any trip, or even just a weekend close to home.
