Summer travel to see the places of my ancestors

sure you can ask.. welcome.

But we're not professionals here - other than a handful who give their time freely in addition to their day jobs - but we are all fellow travellers who have absolutely tons of experience in travel all over Europe and a fair few of know quite a lot about Germany, and some are experienced the corner of Germany you're interested in.

We can certainly help with an itinerary and help you find places to stay in Frankfurt am Main, Nürnberg and Salzburg which many of us know well.

Would you be happy for us to help you or do you really only want a recommendation of travel agents?

Molto Bene! Sehr gut!!
Oh my, thank you! I would love to have our group be a little part of my journey to my "people's homeland"!
After I posted this morning, I did a little "look see" on Airbnb for homes north of Frankfurt - would be there for about 4 nights I think so maybe a house for the 5 of us would be appropriate - or a hosted place?
I expect maybe one night in Salzburg, one night in Nurnberg areas then up to "Frankfurt area" and then head back "over the pass" to Aviano?
I've never been on a forum before but already feel better knowing there are like minded folks for me to chat with. This makes me happy!
Grazie! Vielen Dank!
Patti

couple of thoughts as I head off to a meeting - the 5 of you - a couple of adults and 3 kiddoes? Or all adults? You have some of the ancestral homelands in the Ruhr and the rest somewhat east. I am not sure that a base near Frankfurt will be well placed. I think you may be pressed for time.

What will you do in each of the ancestral towns? Do you just want to arrive in the middle of town, look around, and move on, or do you have plans for church visits, particular houses, etc.?

You'll have a couple of months in Italy and will devote a week to this journey, is that right?

If you have a night in Nuremberg and 2 in Salzburg that leaves 4 nights for travel to north-central Germany and the family search?

You'll be in a car or 2, or will you be on the trains? Do you know about the 9€ national month long tickets?

We are 3 adults and 2 teenagers.
I was thinking, on the way up to stay one night in Salzberg, one night in Nurenberg; 3 nights maybe around Winterberg?
Then on the way home, Winterberg to maybe overnight in Augsberg then home.
I know it's a whirlwind bit of driving but have you ever had to drive in the US?! It's HUGE and not always fun...just sayin'....
Thank you Nigel for your kindness in sharing your knowledge.
Best to all of you,
Patti

Oh - we plan to drive...sorry...

Your time is much too short for what you have on your plate. I suggest you fly from Italy to Cologne and then create a driving route that includes the towns you mention as well as places on the German Half-timbered-House Route (Fachwerkstrasse) and the Fairytale Road. (Märchenstrasse.) This is a charming part of Germany that could entertain you for much longer than a week. Don't shortchange your time there by trying to squeeze in destinations like Salzburg that are nowhere near this area.

The Fachwerkstrasse is split into different regions; those below are close to your destinations:

https://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/en/Routes_Cities/From-the-Westerwald-via-the-Lahn-Valley-and-the-Taunus-to-the-River-Main.html

https://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/en/Routes_Cities/From-the-River-Elbe-to-the-Harz-Mountains.html

https://www.deutsche-fachwerkstrasse.de/en/Routes_Cities/From-the-Weser-Hills-via-North-Hesse-to-the-Vogelsberg-Mountains-and-the-Spessart-Uplands.html

If I were searching for a vacation rental (Ferienwohnung) I might begin my search somewhere central to your target area... the Kassel area would make sense to me.

I took a look at a map too and would agree that Frankfurt isn’t quite convenient enough for your large ancestral area stretching from Nordheim Westfalen to Hessen to Thüringen. Are all towns equally important to your family? You might look carefully at a map and identify two hubs that would give you better access to these 5 ancestral towns.

EDIT: we just got back from a month in this region so if you come up with a plan for your 5 towns I may be able to suggest a place or two to base. While we actually stayed for 3 weeks in Kassel we then moved other areas for our last 10 days. I have a couple of other charming smaller towns to suggest with good A level roads to suggest for a base once you know if you will be trying to see all 5 towns from west to east.

The places of your ancestors are too far apart to visit them from a single base without loosing a lot of time. If you really want to do that, rather than for Aribnb you should look for a vacation apartment in Winterberg or in the area of Marburg on booking.com or hrs.de, because in the countryside you can find them easier and also get more for your money.

Otherwise I would rather make a round trip: (1) Salzburg -- Nuremberg -- Marksuhl / Eisenach (2) Eisenach -- Hannoversch Münden (Udenhausen) (3) Hannoversch Münden - Fischbeck near Hameln, (4) Hameln - Elberfeld - Siegen - Dillenburg.

Ad (1): Marksuhl / Gerstungen is small and the choice of hotels is limited; it's way better in Eisenach (worth seeing: the Bach House). Ad (2): According to the homepage of the town, Grebenstein (Udenhausen) has only one hotel. It's better in nearby Hannoversch Münden, a pretty half-timbered town. Ad (3): I happen to know a nice Gasthof in the Hameln area, in Stift Fischbeck (a Romanesque monastery), where you certainly stay cheaper than in Hameln itself and don't have parking problems (Café am Stift, Hessisch Oldendorf). Ad (4): Wuppertal (Elberfeld) and Siegen are both not particularly attractive. I would do Elberfeld in the morning, Siegen in the afternoon (the sightseeing is really done in a single hour) and stay overnight in the pretty town of Dillenburg southeast of Siegen. From there back to Treviso (?), it's a 9-10 hours drive.

The whole trip will be far from a comfortable vacation, but you know that yourself.

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses.
I may need to rethink this, right? Perhaps we'll visit just one town for each of the branches of the family. and then return later.. Otherwise you have wisely pointed out that we'll be driving way too much and not get to see the countryside or enjoy the wonderful culture. At any rate it will be, I'm sure, just an appitizer!
My late husband's family is from the Kries Siegen area. This is a brief paragraph about the town/area: The Holtzklau family originated from the very ancient parish of Holzklau, first mentioned in 1089, with a parish church dating to the 13th century in the village of Oberholzklau, and a number of other villages in the parish, including Niederholzklau. There is a brook call the Klav (an ancient name for a gully or ravine) which runs through the parish, so that the name could mean "the woods of Klav." It could also mean "wood thief."
We might then just visit the Udenhausen in the state of Hesse near the city of Kassel area - between the Rhine and the Moselle rivers - where my father's family came from.
Maybe we can stay for 3-4 days somewhere close by these two or between them....
This has been sooo helpful. If we do get to make this trip it will be in late July this year...is it hot there then? You have no idea how HOT it is here in sunny, hot and humid coastal South Carolina!
Danke shoen!

It could also mean "wood thief."

Really nice! But "Klau", colloquial for "theft", is a back-formation of the verb "klauen", "to steal," appearing only shortly before 1700, 600 years after the place name was first attested.

Right!! Others have mentioned to me that it was about "wood" somehow...
There is ein kirchen there that we could visit - and I think there is also a graveyard...small town, right?

Hi,

Of the above towns you listed, I'm only familiar with Hameln, spent an afternoon trip there in 2007 from Soest/Westf.

It's well known in German cultural history, re: Der Rattenfänger von Hameln (the rat catcher). The town did not suffer too much damage in 1945, mainly around the train station area, was taken by US troops.

My first impression of Hameln was that I should have visited this town during the Cold War days, which time-wise looking back I could have done on my first trip in 1971 from Hannover or Goettingen in '87.

If you have the time other than seeing ancestral home towns and are motorised, I would heartily suggest visiting Minden an der Weser, a larger town west of Hameln, which like Hameln is totally off the American tourist radar. I like Minden and found it more interesting than Hameln.

Yes, Kassel is in north Hessen. The second time I went there was in 2007 to the see the famous chateau, Schloss Wilhelmshoehe, which is connected with Prussian-German history, as is Minden (above). Can't help with accommodations.

My father's family emigrated to Texas through Bremen on one of the last ships sponsored by the Adelverein between 1842 and 1853.
The anglo settlements were sponsored by a couple of business counts and the settlement location is now the New Braunfels, Austin, Fredericksburg area of central Texas hill country...NOTHING AT ALL similar to the beautiful areas of their homeland!
You have all been more than kind in listening to my ramblings of which you will have absolutely NO interest I am sure!!
I look forward to more research and feedback to settle in on plans for this first of many visits, "God willin' and the crik don' rize too high" (as we say in the Lowcountry)!
Muchas Gracias!!

If you are familiar with New Braunfels you can visit the original just north-west of Frankfurt am Main on the half-timbered route (Deutsche Fachwerkstraße) close to other beautiful towns like Idstein (complete with a witches tower and decent ice cream, personal experience). Braunfels has a large castle in the centre of the town with great gates.

I did a mini-homeland tour of my own several years ago. My family came from very tiny towns near Heidelberg. A giant group of them picked up and came to the US in 1855. Anyway, as part of a trip to Germany, I did a side trip to stay in Heidelberg and rent a car to drive out to a couple of the tiny towns (Tairnbach, Eichtersheim). I was able to find and visit a cemetery chock full of people with my very unusual last name. Otherwise I kind of meandered without aim through some very pretty countryside. I hadn't done a ton of advance leg work so I wasn't able to connect with any living relatives, look at family records, or figure out really what other things I could see that were meaningful (I saw a church that maybe was a key baptism site, but it was closed of course). So I guess my advice would be - if you're really wanting to do any kind of actual "they lived right in this spot" tourism or find actual relatives, there are companies that specialize in it or you may be able to find resources on websites like Ancestry.com (google "German genealogy tours" for examples). If you're just wanting to get a feel for the place and nothing specific, the prior suggestions are spot on. FWIW I loved every minute of my rural meander and I got to drive on the autobahn, so time well spent if not fully productive.

"...absolutely no interest...." Having traveled through often Siegen and Hameln, ie, that general area east and west, I am interested in these towns.

Thank you again to all of you! I am touched by your interest.
Re: my late husband's family:
The Holtzlau-Holtzclaw family are from the Weidenau area of Siegen where there were several iron works. Twelve families of colonists came to Virginia during Governor Spotswood's administration in 1714 and settled in what became Germanna. The ancestor in our family who emigrated was Jakob Holtzclaw.. They came on the solicitation of Baron de Graffenried to establish and operate iron works in Virginia. They came from Muesen and Siegen, Nassau-Siegen in Wesphalia.
How might I make connections in this area to find parish records and what modern town might correlate to the original information I have?

Weidenau area of Siegen

Have a look on Google maps - Weidenau is a couple of km due north of the centre of Siegen.

Müsen is a bit further north, postcode 57271 Hilchenbach

In German, if you don't have easy access to an umlaut to pop onto your vowel, you can use an "e" after the vowel - the two are equivalent. So Müsen and Muesen are the same.

My dad and I are very into Genealogy and did a similar trip back in 2015. Here are some lessons we learned.

I reached out to the city hall and asked that my email be directed towards the town historian/genealogist. I also made appointments to meet that person when we visited. We showed up to one that I was unable to make an appointment for and things got lost in translation and the person we needed to speak to was out of the office that day. So that was an important lesson.

The ladies we were able to meet with were very helpful. I speak some German and they spoke some English, so that helped. I wish my German was better b/c I am sure that there was some info that was missed in translation.

My dad loves to go an look at graves and find relatives in the US. It is a bit different in Germany. This part is a bit of a shock to us Americans - graves need to be paid for every so often. So if the family dies out, or no longer chooses to pay for their loved ones grave, the remains are moved and a new person can be buried there. That is why you will see skulls in crypts. So if your family moved to the US a long time ago, you might not find any graves. We have made contact with my husband's family and we were in a cemetery and say one of the branches mausoleums (it was the wealthy branch of the family that we aren't apart of) and we found out the next payment for mausoleum could buy a house. We found that very interesting.

We didn't go into any churches to talk about records, but I would recommend making appointments there as well. Germans are very proper and things need to go through the proper channels.

It was fun walking through the places my ancestors lived, worked, and played. Have fun!