However, you can also visit Riverside, Iowa, U.S.A., which is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner), and Linlithgow, Scotland, the future birthplace of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.

Riverside, Iowa, is a small town located in rural Washington County. It borders the English River on Iowa Highway 22. As of 2000, the population of the town is 928 people.

Members of the town council voted to proclaim the city the future birthplace of Kirk after learning that Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek™, had already written Kirk’s birthplace as being in Iowa (specifically where, he did not state). They proclaimed Riverside as the “Official Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk”, after getting permission from Roddenberry.

A statute of Kirk stands at the Riverside Area Community Club (formerly a beauty salon along Highway 22). A large stone plaque outside of the club proclaims to be the site of the future farmstead where James was born in the 2230s. At a local bar, a plaque under a pool table supposedly is the “future conception” spot of Kirk. The town also holds an annual Riverside Trek Fest.

Riverside is about 20 miles south of Iowa City, along U.S. Highway 218. (Speed limits through the town are well below warp speeds.)

Linlithgow, future home base for Scotty, is a city in southeast Scotland. It has a population of about 13, 400 people. It is centrally located in Scotland so many of its citizens commute to the cities of Edinburgh, Glasbow,  or Stirling. It is also a popular tourist destination.

According to Star Trek logs, Montgomery Scott was born in Linlithgow in the year 2222. After James Doohan (1920-2005) passed away, the town announced to place a commemorative plaque in the town to memorialize Scotty. Currently, a plaque has yet to be placed within the town. However, Annet House Museum has a small display dedicated to the memory of Doohan (and Scotty).

In addition, Hikuru Sulu (portrayed by George Takei) was born in San Francisco, California, Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), was born somewhere in Russia around 2245, and Dr. “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) was born in 2239 and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), of course, was born to a Vulcan father and Earth mother, supposedly on the planet Vulcan in 2230. The ashes of Star Trek series creator Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) made the trip to space, like Doohan, about ten years ago.

Additional information about the original Enterprise crew from Star Trek can be found at Memory Alpha: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Portal:Main.

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