Signs of History

Ethan Demme | February 26, 2015
Growing up, I remember many times when we would travel as a family. I always wanted to get where we were headed as soon as possible but often my dad would spy a historical sign along the side of the road and pull the car over.

Growing up, I remember many times when we would travel as a family. I always wanted to get where we were headed as soon as possible, but often my dad would spy a historical sign along the side of the road and pull the car over. We would huddle around the sign in order to learn what great thing happened at this great place a great long time ago. I would attempt to argue that since we had already studied history that morning, we didn’t need to learn more now. My arguments fell on deaf ears.

Fast forward to the future; I now take road trips with my family. Whenever I spy a historical sign along the side of the road, I invariably pull over so we can learn about history together as a family.

It was the experience of stopping what we were doing to learn something together that made me appreciate those little snippets of history. It was the shared experience with the rest of my family that makes me want to now share that with mine. History repeats itself and oftentimes the things we experience growing up and the values passed along to us are also repeated.

Start a new piece of history with your kids and learn more about what has happened around you. Perhaps someday another family will stop to read a sign by the side of the road, talking about what great thing happened at this great place, a great long time ago.

Part four of a four part series on history.

Part 1 – The Importance of Family History
Part 2 – Discovering State History
Part 3 – National History
Part 4 – Signs of History