Above left is a family photo showing my late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) and a younger brother in front of a home built by their father, master carpenter James Edgar Wood (1871-1939).
I knew the address in Cleveland Heights, thanks to postcards mailed to the family and saved for more than a century. So I did an online search for the house and presto! Up popped this street view of the very same home, still intact and recognizable.
The carpenter's descendants were very happy to see that his home was handsome enough and sturdy enough to survive for more than 100 years. I've done a similar search for other addresses where the Wood family lived and found nearly all are still standing today.
Alas, the virtual field trip doesn't work for every old address. A number of the Manhattan tenements where my immigrant ancestors lived a century ago are long gone. But at least I can click around the neighborhood, looking at schools and parks and other highlights without actually going in person.
Have you taken a virtual field trip to see where your ancestors lived?
