The map databases just keep getting better. Here is one that is particularly good for rural and small town searches. It ties together census data and the excellent Tera Server topography and satellite image data. This allowed me to get a pretty good picture of my house (from 1990 in my rural area).
http://gazetteer.hometownlocator.com/index.cfm
Here is a similar page that I use alot:
http://www.terrafly.com/
Watch for crashing with Mozilla, and it takes a looooong time to load (if at all sometimes). Oh yeah, and when it says it will close the flyover windows if you close the main window....it means it may close ALL of your IE windows.
You can do a flyover of the sight on the aerial map if you wish.
Here is a "back door" trick I use. Go here and see where I spent my weekend :D
http://n1.cs.fiu.edu/cgi-bin/gnis.cgi?Lat=43.815701&Long=-71.082199&vid=&Res=4
Change the address and voila! Tons of information and an overall aerial of the area.
I use this one for a quick and dirty aerial image of a location: http://terraserver-usa.com/address.aspx