Today's post is inspired by Marian Burk Wood. Yesterday on her blog,
Climbing My Family Tree, Marian suggested taking "virtual field trips. " Using Google Maps, this is pretty easy. Of course, you do need to have an idea of where your ancestor lived. Below are then (1938-ish) and now shots of the apartment house my mother, her parents, and her grandmother lived. The address is 43 Silbergasse in Vienna, Austria. It's pretty cool to have the original photo to compare to. This is especially thrilling to me because I am planning to visit Vienna this coming summer!! The roof lines look a little different and there looks to be some changes to the balconies. The basic footprint seems to be the same though.
"Silbergasse 43". 2017. Silbergasse 43. Accessed October 12 2017. https://www.google.com/maps/
Another website to check out is
"What Was There?" This website is tied to Google Maps, so you can locate current places. But, if you're lucky, someone may have also uploaded pictures of the places you're looking for as they appeared throughout the years. I haven't had much success finding specific addresses I'm researching, but I have been able to sense of the history of a certain area through this website.
Have fun on your virtual trips!!
Deborah, it's great to see "then and now" photos of ancestors' homes, isn't it? Thanks for the idea to check "What Was There?" which might be of help with the NYC apartment buildings no longer standing.
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