My First Home[s]

Randy Seaver, over at GeneaMusings gave us some wonderful information on the use of Google Maps for genealogy.

This Christmas, as I have done for each new grandchild, I am putting together a genealogy work for my new granddaughter, Kaylee Ann, in my own handwriting. It is more like a scrapbook, and is not as detailed with the ancestors as a tree research project. But thanks to Randy, Kaylee's book will be different from any other grandchild's book. Kaylee's will have pictures of the homes I grew up, in my early years!

Oh, there are snapshots of me and my sister by a front door here, or a back door there, but we had no photographs showing entire houses. That is until Thursday when I visited Google Maps.

Below are photographs from Google Maps of 4 of the 5 houses I grew up in in the Naval port of Norfolk, Virginia. [The very first place, unfortunately, is no longer there, demolished for a shopping center.]




9526 15th Bay Street - This is where we lived when my baby sister was born in 1961. You can just see the little duplex to the rear here [the beige looking house.]
9570 15th Bay Street. This is where we lived until my Grandma Beane came to live with us. It's a bit different than when we lived there. The attic stairs are now on the outside of the house [to the right] - they used to be pull-down stairs in the living room. And when we first moved in, a porch ran across the full front of the house. While we were there, half of the porch was enclosed to making a dining room. Now the entire front porch is enclosed.
9562 12th Bay Street. This is where we lived after Grandma Bean came to live with us. We only lived here for 1 year. This is also the home we lived in when I started 1st grade. While we lived there, to the left of the house was a swampy area, that has now been filled in, and a modern duplex constructed. To the right of the house was another home, similar to this one. It has been torn down and there is only an empty lot there now.
In 1966 Mama and Daddy bought this house:
4600 Krick Street.
This is the house where my most vivid memories were formed. The exterior of the house remains unchanged, although the landscaping is a bit plainer now. Daddy had the most beautiful, prickly, holly bushes across the front of the house. At Christmas time they would be full of red berries! And all along the side yard were a row of crepe myrtle trees. These, alas, are all gone.

Oh, but these photographs brought back so many memories!!!

While the clarity isn't the best in the world, I am still thrilled to have these to place in little Kaylee's book! She will have a printed idea of what the houses looked like that her grandmother grew up in!

Thanks Randy for the info on Google Maps!