Sooner or later, every genealogist hits a brick wall in her research. You seem to be on the right track and then poof!—Great-grandpa Joe's paper trail disappears. Sometimes the key to breaking through that wall is focusing not on your ancestor, but on the place and time he lived. Historic events such as war, mass migration, famine or epidemic often can explain an elusive ancestor's vanishing actand give you a sense of his trials and triumphs.

Thanks to the Web, putting your kin in historical context has never been easier. Sites maintained by history buffs, restored historic villages and educational institutions are crammed with detailed accounts (many of them firsthand narratives) of everyday life through the centuries. In seconds, you can track down a recipe for Roman honey cakes, read the nation's reaction to the Custer massacre or find plans for a typical Colonial garden.

If you immerse yourself in an era's history, you'll get a feel for your ancestor's daily routine. And that may lead you right to the chink in your brick wall. So what are you waiting for? Log on to these 37 Web sites and step into the past.

Historic Towns and Villages

Colonial Williamsburg
www.colonialwilliamsburg.org

Old Salem
www.oldsalem.org

Old Sturbridge Village
www.osv.org

Plimoth Plantation
www.plimouth.org

Virtual Jamestown
www.iath.viriginia.edu/vcdh/jamestown

General American History

American Memory
memory.loc.gov

From Revolution to Reconstruction: Documents
odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D

HistoryBuff.com
www.historybuff.com

Index of Native American History Resources on the Internet
www.hanksville.org/NAresources/indices/NAhistory.html

An Outline of American History
usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/history/toc.htm

Military History

Civilwar.com
www.civilwar.com

HyperWar: World War II
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar

Virtual Marching Tour of the American Revolution
www.ushistory.org/march

The War of 1812 Web site
www.militaryheritage.com/1812.htm

American Expansion

The Oregon Trail
www.isu.edu/~trinmich/oregontrail.html

Santa Fe Trail Research Site
www.stjohnks.net/santafetrail

Trailblazers: Lewis and Clark Were Not Alone
www.trailblazers101.com

World History

Eastern European Information
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/6587/Eeuro.html

Electric Scotland
www.electricscotland.com

Encyclopedia of British History: 1500-1980
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/industry.html

Internet East Asian History Sourcebook
www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/eastasiasbook.html

Ireland's History in Maps
www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/iremaps.htm

Online Resources for Canadian Heritage
www.civilization.ca/orch/www00_e.html

Timelines

Encyclopedia Smithsonian: American History Timeline
www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmah/timeline.htm

National Museum of American History: Timeline
americanhistory.si.edu/timeline

OurTimeLines.com
ourtimelines.com

Timeline for Middle Eastern and European History
faculty.juniata.edu/tuten/islamic/timeline.html

Social History

17th-Century English Recipes
www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec/html

A Brief History of Hairstyles
www.erasofelegance.com/hairstyles.html

Colonial Occupations
homepages.rootsweb.com/~sam/occupation.html

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
digital.lib.msu.edu/cookbooks

Fiddle Tunes from the American Revolution
www.halcyondaysmusic.com/colonialmusic

From Quackery to Bacteriology: The Emergence of Modern Medicin in 19th-Century America
www.cl.utoledo.edu/canaday/quackery/quack-index.html

Making of America
www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp
library5.library.cornell.edu/moa

Old Disease Names
www.homeoint.org/cazalet/oldnames.htm

Poetry and Music of the War Between the States
home.earthlink.net/~poetry61-65