A family history field trip could be across the country, to another continent, or just around the corner. When you visit places your ancestors lived and worked, or visit places where they traveled, you can gain a new perspective which is impossible to experience while looking at a computer screen. Sunny Jane Morton quotes Dr. Carla Santos in an article entitled, Genealogy Tourism: Have Ancestors–Will Travel:

“When people experience different things and places, they come back transformed…Genealogy is so personal that I imagine the transformative power of a trip like this is really great. Exploring, redefining and confirming our identities are life-long projects. This kind of genealogical travel gives us a practical way to think about belonging, home, heritage, and identity. Online ‘armchair’ genealogy doesn’t substitute for this type of experience—it enables and facilitates it.”

Perhaps you remember how your parents tried to make family trips fun, meaningful and memorable. Melissa Blake takes on this concept in The Priceless Nostalgia of Childhood Family Road Trips  and discusses the herculean effort parents (and/or grandparents) make to get the desired result when taking children or teens to the destination of choice. Melissa talks about how her family would travel across America when she was a child and states that she would rather be in the car listening to the case of CDs she had brought. “I was too tired and didn’t want to get out of the car. I was hungry — when were we going to stop for lunch? I’m sure my new, surly attitude had something to do with just being a teenager, but it didn’t seem to faze my parents, who still got out at every scenic overlook while I sat in the car…” But she feels their efforts were worth the price:

My real “aha” moment didn’t come until years later when those teenage memories slowly began to take on a much deeper meaning. Sure, I may have complained about all the off-the-road stops we were making (the Arch was boring! The Smoky Mountains were too hot!), but as an adult, I can see my parents were trying to create memories for us, the kind of memories that lasted long after we got back in the car and drove away. It was quintessential America — a snapshot of the United States. Wrapped up in these vacations was the perfect history lesson. My parents saw it as a way to bring history to life for my sister and me. But these trips are also our family’s history. It’s the story of our journey and our past and the story of our family.

The Family History Guide suggests a fun re-visiting the past in the “Family Activities – Documenting the Past” section:

• F4-04: —Back To Your Roots
  Plan a visit or family reunion at places your parents or grandparents were raised or places where they lived or liked to spend time. Visit and record the memories of your loved ones and their family and friends who still live there. (If you can’t visit in person, try a virtual visit with Google Earth.

According to Angie Lucas in Journey to the Past, a great idea is to plan a “quick trip back to a favorite childhood picnic spot, resort town, café or diner, canyon, lake, amusement park, national park, city park, or other tourist destination. Bring your grown siblings or an old friend with you for an extra dose of nostalgia, or take the opportunity to introduce your spouse or children to this cherished place.” She offers a printable Photo Checklist of ideas for photos on your visit. Returning to a childhood place can help children to know more about parents and grandparents – how they grew up, their values, experiences and what was important to them. Feelings of belonging can be nourished “on site.”

For many years, our family members have taken turns bringing my mother back to her childhood hometown of Panguitch, Utah. We video her stories as we tour the town, watch her in the Panguitch July 24th Parade with her high school classmates (those who are able to come) and experience what it must have been like to grow up in this fascinating town – the sad and the happy times. The memories we made of HER memories are priceless and treasured. It was on one of these trips that we stopped in a neighboring town to reunite my mom with a relative with whom she had had a miscommunication decades before and not spoken to each other for that long.  The two of them fell into each other’s arms and repaired their damaged relationship within minutes. That trip made new history and solidified the value of family history road trips in our book!

I googled “family history tourism is on the rise” and got about 90,600,000 results! Jordi Lippe-McGRaw  gives some reasons why Americans (and this applies to people all over the world) are traveling to heritage sites in his article Why Heritage Tourism Is More Popular Than Ever:

For some travelers, turning to their family tree for inspiration has become the latest—and most interesting—way to plan a trip. And while the idea of traveling to investigate your legacy and culture isn’t exactly something new, there are more tools now to make it a reality. “… Americans are spreading far and wide to experience their cultural and spiritual roots and catalyzing the rise of operators, agencies, and guides dedicated to this segment,” Christina Tunnah, Regional Manager for the Americas at World Nomads, told Condé Nast Traveler. She added, “Not just for the bucket list boomer crowd, this theme serves as a significant thread of self-discovery amongst millennials who choose to study abroad and become digital nomads in places where they have a tendril of familial connection in search of generational sense of self.”

An example of going to “the homeland” is captured in a video produced by the Gene and Lucy Peterson family (created by Cammy) and found in the Activities for Individuals Section  (I2-06: Plan a Family History Trip).

More ideas to “look” into the past:

Creating Ancestor Connections

Interviewing and Recording Family History Stories

Integrating the Family History Guide’s Countries Page With Google Earth