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A couple of years ago, DH and I visited the first place we lived after we married. This would have been 1981 through 1986 (he had originally purchased the place in 1976). We lived on several acres in a very rural area. There had been a horse farm across the road, and a Christmas tree farm next door. Lots of woods with trails where I used to ride my horse. On the road to our place, we passed a farm with rolling hills full of sheep.
No more sheep farm...wall to wall McMansions. No more horse farm...wall to wall McMansions. Our place is still there, but there are houses encroaching it. My special woods on the property (where I enjoyed seeing carpets of violets and Jack in the Pulpits in the spring) are also gone, removed by the new owner, along with the old stone wall where my cat used to sun himself and where I picked blackberries.
The sight just made me sick. I never want to go back.
My childhood home was in an old but well cared for area of Youngstown, Ohio. My mother had lived in the house next door at one time....Born in the late 1940's we moved to California in 1959. We went back in 1969 and the neighborhood was not as nice. In 1973 we visited with a relative but didn't go back to our old house. I looked up the property which is now an empty lot, the house had burned down, along with many other houses on the street. Had sad that the area was not kept up.
My elementary school (Garfield) on the next block was torn down as well.
Thanks to online maps and some websites showing photographs of downtowns, villages, cities, etc., it's all too easy nowadays to see what houses and streets where we grew up or where we hung out often in decades past look like today.
I've done that a number of times; what I do find about one particular house and neighborhood is that while I still remember, after more than 30 years, the basic streets from that house to downtown, that the area itself has changed dramatically, with new buildings and businesses.
I do, as well, have photographs from those times.
I also mapped my elementary school. It's still there, but there was major architectural renovation, and the streets right outside the school still look mostly the same.
For that area where I was a child, distance and time and other commitments keep me from visiting, but it's something I'd like to do in the future. I plan of course to take photographs from the past and compare them to how the scenery is today.
With areas that are more recent, such as where I lived when I was a teenager, and places where I then lived in my 20s, the curiosity is lower - most probably because unlike the area where I lived as a child, most of these other areas aren't far from here and I can go there anytime - and because the changes have been fewer. In contrast, the town where I lived as a child... I only visited twice after moving away at the time I hit puberty, and the last visit was more than 20 years ago.
If you currently live far from where you grew up/studied as a child, how often do you get to visit and when you do, what is it like? How many of the people you knew as a child in those places still live there?
For me, going back to the town where I lived as a child, almost all of the people of my age range I knew when I was in elementary school no longer live there; they've moved to bigger cities. A very small handful remain - they've lived there their entire lives.
I do believe that as I'm getting older, I find myself reminiscing about the place of my childhood more often even as I am always preoccupied and occupied by the demands of life.
Right after 9/11, my then GF was going back to her home State for a class reunion, and we had to drive , rather than fly, because of the restrictions during that period. So, we drove to her reunion, and since I grew up in the next State, we decided to make a vacation out of it and we toured her old stomping grounds, then went to my old stomping grounds for a few days.
It was really nice to get back there again. I had not been there in over 25 years, and I was amazed how changed things were, at least from my memory. The only disappointing thing was when we drove to my old home, where I grew up, and it was a mess. Overgrown, run down, and I hardly recognized it. We always kept it pristine, but the people who lived there now were bums.
The most shocking thing was, everything looked a lot smaller than I remembered. Overall, though, I enjoyed seeing the area one last time.
Thanks to online maps and some websites showing photographs of downtowns, villages, cities, etc., it's all too easy nowadays to see what houses and streets where we grew up or where we hung out often in decades past look like today.
I've done that a number of times; what I do find about one particular house and neighborhood is that while I still remember, after more than 30 years, the basic streets from that house to downtown, that the area itself has changed dramatically, with new buildings and businesses.
I do, as well, have photographs from those times.
I also mapped my elementary school. It's still there, but there was major architectural renovation, and the streets right outside the school still look mostly the same.
For that area where I was a child, distance and time and other commitments keep me from visiting, but it's something I'd like to do in the future. I plan of course to take photographs from the past and compare them to how the scenery is today.
With areas that are more recent, such as where I lived when I was a teenager, and places where I then lived in my 20s, the curiosity is lower - most probably because unlike the area where I lived as a child, most of these other areas aren't far from here and I can go there anytime - and because the changes have been fewer. In contrast, the town where I lived as a child... I only visited twice after moving away at the time I hit puberty, and the last visit was more than 20 years ago.
If you currently live far from where you grew up/studied as a child, how often do you get to visit and when you do, what is it like? How many of the people you knew as a child in those places still live there?
For me, going back to the town where I lived as a child, almost all of the people of my age range I knew when I was in elementary school no longer live there; they've moved to bigger cities. A very small handful remain - they've lived there their entire lives.
I do believe that as I'm getting older, I find myself reminiscing about the place of my childhood more often even as I am always preoccupied and occupied by the demands of life.
I have done the same thing. Natural to wonder about old classmates. In my research, I've found that most have moved away and have families and careers. One that I'm aware of, stayed in the same house that he grew up in, however, his parents died (whom I recall growing up, were always nice) and he inherited the house. None of my classmates were as they were 30 years ago. People change and move on.
An interesting post. I still go to my hometown to visit my parents a few times during the year. Things have definitely changed and modernize, although even with all the new stuff, everything still feels really familiar. It’s interesting how certain sites and places cause you to reminisce.
I have done the same thing. Natural to wonder about old classmates. In my research, I've found that most have moved away and have families and careers. One that I'm aware of, stayed in the same house that he grew up in, however, his parents died (whom I recall growing up, were always nice) and he inherited the house. None of my classmates were as they were 30 years ago. People change and move on.
I could not possibly do that, short of getting myself a yearbook. The last time I saw any of my classmates was in the mid-1980s and never saw them again - not even one of them.
Because of circumstances, the bulk of the students I was with in class was the same from 1st grade to 6th grade. So in a way at that time, within that context, "we grew up together." It's not as if I was close to any of those kids outside school but I did get invited to a few birthday parties.
I can speculate that many of those kids who are my age are still residing in that town, although it wouldn't surprise me if they had moved elsewhere.
I just took another look on Google Maps and spent more time on it. I realized that yes, most of the streets look the same; ditto for the buildings, although many have been repainted. It's incredible how that area, which I first went to 40 years ago, is an area I can still remember the basics of.
That's the thing though. Unless demolished, structures remain. People move on.
I was passing thru the city I grew up in and decided to drive by my childhood home. It hadn’t changed very much. I walked up to the door and asked if I could come in and look around, and the lady said, absolutely not! and if you done leave immediately I am going to call the police. I said, Aw come on mom.... that’s just plain mean!
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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I visit my hometown once a year usually and I drive my both my mom’s and Dad’s old houses. My dad’s neighborhood in particular has become a high crime area and mom’s neighborhood while still a nice area is becoming dated.
I never go back, but I really should. I have tons of friends from High School and in general (different schools) that I haven't seen since 2006. Its past time for me to make a trip back to South Florida. This would be the best time of the year to do that, but I have other vacation plans this year, so it may have to wait until late Fall or next year. I do have a brother in Orlando though. Food for thought...
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