Before you could look up addresses on the internet, how did people find smaller locations like houses and restaurants?

Question

I know atlases and roadmaps were a lot more common, but from my understanding those give more of a broader view of a large area like major roads and stuff. If you needed to find a small subdivision or small road, how would you do that before the internet?

In: 27

Answer 1

ELI5: I remember relying on my parents and when I got older I realized it was directions given by word of mouth. We would either remember the directions, find it for ourselves and get lost in the process or we would just write the directions down from the person giving them. Dark times but you didn’t forget how to get there ever again once you got to the destination. I remember my grandparents kept books of road maps in the pockets behind the seats. Very fun to look through.