The East Lothian area adjacent to East Linton should be a priority for visitors with a Hepburn family connection but unfortunately there is no specific visitor centre. The adjacent Hailes Castle now in the care of Historic Scotland is a focal point because of its connection with James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell who married Mary Queen of Scots in May 1567.

The main significant line can be traced for more recent centuries through the ownership of Smeaton Hepburn estate.

Sources for family historians before 1855 can be difficult to acquire but there is a list of employees at Smeaton Hepburn House for the period 1790 to 1800 and which sometimes lists the occupation. The list may not be complete and would require validation with other family history archives.

The Prestonkirk graveyard survey has been published by the Scottish Genealogy Society in 2000 but does not include information from the lair register or other similar archive sources.

A number of articles have been published on aspects of Hepburn History by David Affleck. e. g. Sir George Buchan Hepburn,  Transactions of the East Lothian Antiquarian Society, Vol 27., The Hepburns of Whitekirk in East Lothian Life  and Neighbours no more Parts 1 to 4 in East Lothian Life between 2016 and 2017. Access to these and archived files is available at the John Gray Centre in Haddington.