Routes to Your Roots uses Google Maps to help you connect with community archives in Nova Scotia to explore your family roots.
 | What do the blue pins represent?
Each blue pin represents the location of a community archives.
Click on the pin to: - view details about collections and services
- send an email
- add to your trip planner
Some communities have more than one blue pin. If you see overlapping pins, double click that area of the map to zoom in until the pins separate.
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| What is a community archives?
Each community archives collects historical information for their geographical area: family bibles, copies of church records, personal photos, community newspaper articles and obituaries, community businesses and industries, family trees, etc.
A community archives may be physically located in a museum, public library or genealogy centre, be part of a university, or stand alone as a municipal or provincial government institution. |
| What do the orange circles mean?
The orange circles show where people with your last name have lived at any time in the past 250 years. Larger circles mean more of your potential ancestors lived there.
Click on the large circle to zoom in to view the communities. Click on the search button to zoom back out to the large circles.
Click on the blue pin(s) near the orange circle(s) to email the nearby community archives for more information or to add them to your trip planner. |
| How do I move around the map?
The commands for navigating are the same as Google Maps. - To see details of a particular area, double click that area.
- To move up, down, right and left, use the navigation arrows in the upper left corner of the map.
- To go back to the larger map view, click the centre box of the navigation arrows in the upper left corner.
- To manually control the zoom in/out, click on the white bar along left side of map.
- To switch to the terrain view, click on satellite button in upper right corner.
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| What are the names appearing below the search bar?
When you type in a last name, possible options appear as you type. Only options available in the database are provided.
To select a name from the options list, click on it.
Spelling of last names changed over time. |
| How do I enlarge the text?
Click on the + button located to the right beneath the image at the top of the page. |
| How do I save my trip plan?
Scroll up to the top of the page, click on “Travel Planner” and follow the directions. |
| How do I print?
Click the print icon on the far right beneath the image at the top of the page. |
| Why can’t I find my last name?
Spelling Changes Over Time - Try alternate spellings of your name based on how it sounds.
- Type in the first few letters and review the dropdown list for other suggested spellings.
- Talk to family members to get clues about the history of your name.
Time Period Doesn’t Match - The database covers the 1760s to the 1950s, and is based on surviving birth, marriage and death records collected by government.
- Until the early 1900s, registration of births, marriages and deaths was not mandatory, and many people are missing from the database.
- Community archives hold many additional information sources not included in this database. Contact an archives to ask about your specific family search.
Your Family Member Didn’t Stay in Nova Scotia - E-mail or visit Pier 21 Museum.
- Read more about immigration to Nova Scotia »
All archives are not the same. Each one focuses on the families living in and around the archive’s location. The best advice is to contact an archives. |
For best results, the following web browsers are recommended:
Internet Explorer 7 and above
Firefox 3.0 and above
Safari 4