I visited the house I grew up in, two owners later. I solved the mystery of why there was chimney in the laundry-room closet (there had been an incinerator, a no-longer-allowed method of disposing of paper trash), why there were grooves under the carpet between two rooms (there had been sliding patio doors), why there had been sliding glass door (my folks enclosed a Porch). We had kept the sliders, but the next owner removed the doors but not the tracks, just carpeted over them.

I've never gone back to visit my childhood home, but I've looked at it on Google.

Wow, that is so cool. Our family home is still in the family, so I haven't, however, we left the height or growing measurements of a previous owner who had kids intact in our garage just in case they ever come back. When we bought our house, the aura from the previous owner was really bad. We've removed and replaced everything and anything we could to void the house of it. However, the measurements from a family before him, have always made me smile, I can't see ever covering them up.

I grew up in a large Mediterranean house in Connecticut. I lived there till I was 24, and could have walked through the entire house with my eyes closed. It was built in the 1920s with balconies and terraces and a large patio with a fountain with a statue of a boy holding a fish. Very old worldand very elegant. The house even had a name, "villa Octovia" for the eight large pine trees at one end of the property I'm told.

Years later, one of my friends who is a contractor in that town, told me they had just renovated it. He sent me pictures. I was horrified. Now it looks right out of MTV cribs. So over-the-top. When I'm feeling nostalgic, I close my eyes and retrace my steps through my childhood home that still exists in my mind.

I wish I had never seen the pictures.

I visited my late grandparent's house several years ago on a whim. It's 3 hours from my home, but I was visiting an uncle in a nearby town. We were on our way to lunch and had to drive right by the house, so I swung in.

The barn had been turned into an antique store and the owner was outside getting ready to open. When we pulled in, I explained that my great-grandparents built the house in 1900 and that my grandparents lived so it was the house my late father grew up in. She immediately said my my maiden name, and warmly greeted both my uncle (not related on that side of the family) and I to a tour of the house and then the antique shop. She was beyond gracious, kind and inviting! I think she was as happy to hear the family stories as I was to see the house! They had made some changes, but nothing major. There had only been one other owner between my grandparents and her family.

There were no mysteries to shed light on, but it was a wonderful time. The barn was a "real barn" when my grandparents lived there. My late grandfather would not have approved of that one change!

My parents later bought the house across the street from my grandparent's house. I was not able to tour that house, our "summer house", but I got a good glimpse and several pictures. The barn was turned into an in-law apartment, which meant the barn swing my father had made for me was long gone!

Oh the warm wonderful memories. I feel fortunate that the current owner was so open and welcoming.

We visited my grandmother's house in Arkansas a few years ago. It's in a neighborhood now called "The Historic District" which I think is stretching it a bit! It's a bungalow and the owner was nice enough to allow all of us (various cousins etc) to see the house. I was astounded that even the same kitchen cabinets were still there and my grandmother died in 1966 and the house was sold! The only change was a bath had been added to the two BRs on the 2nd floor - a good improvement! Even my grandmother's old garden bench was still in the backyard.

Not really. My childhood home was on the arket a few years ago so I looked at the pics online. I was hoping for an open house so I could go see it but it sold quickly. I could see that the house has the original layout but has been updated. We had a kitchen with a separate breakfast nook and someone combined those spaces inot one, which made sense.

We drove past my great aunt's old house and it was sad to see. My GA and Uncle had designed and built it and took great pride in it. The current owners obviously did not. There was junk all over the yard. Very sad.

However, I have met someone from every family that lived in my house before me. Two stopped as they drove by and since I was in the yard they stopped to introduce themselves. I invited each of them in to see the downstairs.

In 2014, I toured eastern europe with a special interest in Budapest. My mother was born there and came to the U,S. in 1921 when she was 8. She sailed with her mother and 2 older sisters. My dh had found the ship's manifest after my aunt gave us the date of sailing and the name of the ship. The manifest had the street addresses in the hometown of the passengers.

We hired a guide for a day in Budapest. Among the usual tourist sights, he drove us to the neighborhood where she lived and then found her house! It was actually a very large apartment building, marked '25' and told us about their life. He showed us where they kept the horses, where they shopped, and the highlights of the neighborhood. It is currently being used for subsidized housing and has been remodeled a few times. I took video and photos and sent them to my cousins all over the U.S. Way cool!