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Routes to your roots in Scotland and beyond
 Jaap Hart / iStockphoto With itineraries for various interests, from Jewish heritage to a culinary tour, Holland Specialty Travel deals in small, chauffeur-driven trips. Their travel specialty is the "go back to your roots" tour, but they make sure that you don't miss out on important sightseeing like Delft and the Windmill City. |
Grassy, rolling hills meet the well-worn peaks of the Grampies. Sheep dot these hills and cold, clear rivers crisscross them. In the fall, Perthshire’s rugged land brightens with the changing leaves and it’s the best time of year to enjoy blue skies—at least until the late afternoon. Seeing this idyllic countryside, I wonder how my Scottish ancestors felt leaving this land to immigrate to Ireland. My great-great grandfather was Scots-Irish in the truest sense. An Ulster Scot, he came from the contingent of Protestants who originally settled in Northern Ireland as part of James VI’s plan to colonize those other isles.
Typical of many Americans, my last name, like a raised flag, pins me to a particular place on the map. Yet, it only hints at one of many roots. Though a blend of German, Swiss, English and Irish, I have a deep connection with my Scottish heritage through my father, whose imagination has long been captured by the Highland culture. And despite having settled in Ireland a few centuries prior, his family preserved their heritage by retaining the tartans and crests of the Murrays—even as they settled in the U.S. in the 1820s.
A land's history comes alive when there's personal attachment, so I was excited to see the country through the eyes of a daughter of Scotland. Plenty of people travel to foreign countries in search of relatives, and even more people study their genealogy, but a trip to the ancestral home doesn’t always have to mean hours spent researching the family tree. Sometimes, seeing where and how your ancestors may have lived can be just as fulfilling an adventure. In fact, there are plenty of heritage tour operators in Europe who conduct specific and general genealogical research, then plan a vacation around the ancestral land.
With the clan name of Murray as inspiration, Lesley and Peter Gray of the Scottish Ancestral Trail created just such an adventure for me. Founded in 2003 after the couple became interested in their own ancestry, their company arranges custom vacations that explore your family’s Scottish history. They can plan a general trip around the clan territory or a more specific itinerary after careful research. Ancestral Trail will also put together a DNA tour for people whose DNA tests match those of Scottish ancestry within the bank of a genetic testing company. While Peter does much of the behind-the-scenes research, Lesley provides the personal touch by meeting groups at the airport, ensuring the accommodations meet your needs, or even arranging a chauffeured tour of your ancestral lands.
Foregoing the chauffeur, we decided instead to brave the road in a rental car. Navigation system? Yes, please. After touring Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile with guide Peter Chalmers, we drove north to Auchterarder where the famous Gleneagles Hotel rests on about 900 acres of land. Though styled after a French chateau, the hotel feels like a proper British manor. We had a wide-open view of the impeccably kept grounds from the balcony of our room in the Braid House, a wing that opened in 2002 where guests enjoy the latest amenities. Golf and tons of other activities abound there but we had family history to chase down. After an upscale take on the English fry-up, we rushed off in the morning to Huntingtower Castle, the first of four castles we would visit and the one where the Murray clan lore begins.
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A feature that most Scottish medieval castles share is their location atop a hill, affording telescopic views of the countryside. Though in ruins (and opened to us as a special privilege from Historic Scotland), Balvaird doesn’t disappoint on this account. The Murrays’ ownership of the property followed Andrew Murray of Tullibardine’s marriage to the daughter of the owner and marked another leg up for the clan during its meteoric rise in status during the 1600s. Our Historic Scotland guide, Gary Malcolm, pointed out some worn stonework on the outside of the castle. He explained that it was an oumbry, or shrine, that may have indicated religious allegiances in the tumultuous years leading up to the Reformation.
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Valaer Murray Founded in 2003 after Peter and Lesley Gray became interested in their own ancestry, Scottish Ancestral Trail arranges vacations that help you explore your family's Scottish history, whether that means specific places in family history, tracing your surname, family documents, or even using the results of DNA research project in which you have participated. |
Beside the River Tay, the quintessential Scottish village of Dunkeld provides a great jumping-off point for the Big Tree Country. Its cobblestone streets offer up a few shops and historic hotels, but its religious origins dating from the Pictish kingdom to its position as the center of Christianity under David I attract the history buffs.
After dinner, we returned to the Dunkeld House, a Hilton hotel that holds a special significance to my journey—it was built by George Murray, the 6th Duke of Atholl, for his wife. The estate is located by a river in the midst of acres of deer-filled woods and pastures, and retains the essence of its storied past. Often on genealogical tours, you’ll be able to visit places that figure in your ancestors’ past, like a school that a relative started, the cemetery where family members are buried or, as in Scotland, the lands of your clan.
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