Irish Roots

Most of you know that I am an avid fan of genealogy, so it should come as no surprise that we are delving into some of Marty's family history here in County Donegal, where his maternal great grandmother, Mary Harvey was born.  

She emigrated to the United States along with several of her siblings, sometime in the 1890s, but she also had several siblings who chose to stay in Fosses.  The youngest son, William, was one of them, and the house where the family was born still stands, used as a storage shed in the present day.  A new house was built directly in front over time, and it was modernized in 1950s to add a bit more room.

When I was planning the trip, I was sure to reach out to the family to let them know that we would be in the area, and true to form, the family that continues to live locally was extremely excited to spend time with us.  So much so, that they came just after breakfast yesterday, and whisked us away to the old homestead to rekindle the relationship that we had forged 10 years ago, when we made the trip from Scotland to visit William's daughter, Annie, whom I had been genealogy pen pals with for many years.

Here's a photo of Marty and me with three of Annie's daughters, standing in front of the original house where the Harvey family was born and raised. 

 

These women are absolutely delightful, and so eager to want to share their family history.  I can't say that I've met a more close knit family, and the welcome that they offer is beyond comparison. 

There were 11 of them:  six girls and five boys, and they all were raised in the three bedroom house that was shared with their grandparents.   When the grandparents passed, the girls shared one room while the boys had the other.  Kind of an amazing story to hear in this day and age.  

The took us for a walk down the road so that we could see the houses of the other family members who had worked these fields so many years ago.

The stone buildings stand in rubble but the majority of the land continues to be unspoiled. 

Pretty amazing scenery, isn't it? 

And, here is a view from the front door of the house.  You can see Marty with his cousins at the end of the driveway, returning from our wee walk. 

I recall asking Annie, who was close to 90 at the time,  what it was like looking out at such an amazing view every day.  She looked me straight in the face and quite frankly told me that when she was raising eleven children she never had time to look out the window, so she had never given much thought to it.  What a spitfire!

We moved onto Bridie's house for lunch, and her husband, Martin, took this photo of us, which includes yet another sister, and her daughter, added to the group.

Martin then took Marty to St. John's point for some fishing.  This is his photo as I didn't go along.

I was being entertained by the women, being offered a hot toddy to drink.

while Bridie's wee dog was seeking some attention from me.  He truly was delightful.

And, here's a selfie of Marty and Martin.  Of course he couldn't resist that opportunity!

We ended up staying the entire day, and arrived back at our B&B at 10:00 at night.  It's difficult to judge the time as it was still light even when we returned!

I'll leave with just one funny story.  When we visited ten years ago, Marty and I had taken a photo with Annie.  We had it printed up and I purchased a special frame in a shop in the town.  We gave Annie the photo in the frame as a wee gift upon leaving.  Well, apparently Annie found that to be extremely special, as it was still in her old bedroom in the house.  Her one daughter amusingly told us that she knew that we had to be very special, because her mum had no photos in her room of any of her children.  Just one of the pope, and this framed photo of the three of us.  I suppose we must have rated pretty high in her eyes!

Exploring the Wild Atlantic Way!

 This morning we awoke to brilliant sunshine, so, after our breakfast, we took a short stroll on the path across from ou B&B, and headed to the castle that stands on the edge of Ballymote.  

Just look at those blue skies!  Awesome!

We then checked out of our B&B, bid farewell, and headed to the northern section of the Wild Atlantic Way.   Many people choose the southern connections, but I set this trip up to try to stay away from as many tourists as possible.  So, we went north, of course!

Our first stop ws Mullaghmore Head.  

We spotted some unusual mountains with sheep scattered about.

Aren't the vistas amazing?

Moving on, we found ourselves at Bundoran, where the long stretch of beach was scattered with surfers, all dressed in wetsuits, of course. 

There was this unusual inlaid design in the sign, and I have no idea where that came from. 

There is a stately castle that stands on this peninsula.  It is private property and is not open for tours.  Which is just fine.  It's beauty is captured perfectly.

I was able to try out the new hiking poles that Marty had given to me for Christmas.

They worked great!

I have no idea who Lena is, but she offered the perfect opportunity for us to sit and just take in the beauty surrounding us.

Moving on, we drove to Bendoran which features  the fairy bridges.  Here you see a cute Irishman (kind of), standing on the bridge.

And here he is, sitting in the wishing chair, contemplating what he should wish for. 

We hiked a fair distance, and the views were amazing. 

By this time, refreshment was in order, so we headed to Belleek, where we enjoyed our afternoon cream tea treat.

Cherry scones with cream and jam.  Yum.

By this point, we decided to head into Donegal, where we will be staying for the next few days.  It was still rather early, so we decided to head out to Slieve League (which appears to be spelled a variety of ways, which just might explain our confusion.)   We followed the GPS instructions, which left us pretty much in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sheep, with a chirpy, "You've reached your destination!!"

Well, as it turns out, we were on the wrong side of the mountain!  So, we headed back down the road, working our way through the many sheep, in an attempt to find the actual site.

Finally, we found the right spot! 

Pretty spectacular, don't you think?

At this point, I was concerned that we would miss dinner, so we headed back to Donegal, to the Olde Castle Pub for dinner.  I had checked the website and the hours were "open from noon", with no mention of a closing time.  One could conceivably secure an online reservation until nearly midnight.  I know because I tried, only to be told that they weren't taking online reservations.

So, I called, and the answering machine said they were open "from noon" and were only taking walk ins.

Except, they didn't take us when we walked in.  They said that they would not feed anyone else.  It was 7:45 pm.  We were a bit disheartened, but headed to Dom's Pier restaurant, where we were not only made to feel welcome, we were given an awesome seat overlooking the bay.  

There was no problem ordering a meal, and to top it all off, they had an Irish female singer performing Irish ballads.  She had the voice of an angel.  And, the lull of her magical voice was really relaxing. 

So, I can honestly say that the day ended as brilliant as it had begun.  You just can't beat that!

Our Lady of Knock....Marty's dream come true

When we awoke this morning at our B&B in Ballymote, the weather for the day didn't look promising.  But, we had certainly come prepared for rain, so we donned our rain jackets and headed southwest on the highway to Knock, the sight of the famous shrine.  

It was drizzling, but that didn't dampen our spirits.  We explored the grounds, which, as you can see, are quite lovely.

The stations of the cross are each nestled in a yew, and surround the recreation of Calvary.

And the chapel features a recreation of the events that occurred on an August night in 1879, in this very small village. 

A word wasn't spoken, and there is no indication as to just why Mary appeared with Joseph and John,  with the lamb and cross, surrounded by angels. But, testimonies were taken from more than two dozen people who saw the apparition take place over a two hour period.  And, when questioned years later, the stories remained the same. 

The words from Our Lady of Knock beautifully portray this event, and one can easily see the connection between the song and this beautiful memorial. 

Marty looked around for a spot where he could play the song on his ukulele, and we found a place that offered some shade from the rain.  He set things up, and began strumming and singing.  He is working on uploading it to UTube should you be interested in seeing his musical abilities.  

In the meantime, a grandpa named Paddy, a mum, and 3 young girls stopped to listen to our rendition of the song, and we soon began chatting.  The next thing we knew, the little girls were entertaining us with their steel flutes, each one of them playing a Irish tune for our enjoyment.  

Of course, Marty couldn't pass on taking a selfie to commemorate the event. 

Since it was still raining, we opted to drive to Boyle, to check out Kings Castle which stands in the middle of the town.  It was built in the early 1700s by an Englishman who had been granted the land in Ireland by the King and is of Georgian design. 

The man's surname was actually King, and  he only lived in the residence for 40 years prior to determining that it was too small for his needs. So, in 1795, the house was purchased by British Army as the headquarters of the Connaught Rangers.   It was converted into an infantry barracks for 12 officers and 260 non-commissioned officers. It was used until 1922 when the rangers were disbanded. 

The house almost underwent demolition when purchased by the local council, who originally wanted to make a parking lot!  But, luckily, someone had a change of heart and it has been refurbished and opened to the public to offer a peek into the history of this area of Ireland. 

The interior features a dining room that holds possessions of the original owners, the King family.

And the tour of the house takes one through many rooms set up with dioramas that explain the early history of this area of Ireland, through to present day. 

Mention was made of the Book of Kells, which had been written by the monks at the local abbey, and are now stored in Trinity College in Dublin. 

The Abbey stands not far from the house, and you can see just how enormous it is.

Wasn't it nice of the sun to peek out for us? 

There is a river that runs behind the castle and along the Abbey, making for some lovely vistas. 

And the town itself is really quite charming.

What would be a "castle" without a tea room?   We enjoyed some delightful scones with real clotted cream, and a delicious cup of tea.

With the sun popping out, we decided to venture north to Sligo and check out the sites there.  We passed Lough Quay on the way, and stopped to take a quick photo. 

Sligo was not at all what we had hoped.  It was super busy, loads of traffic, and just not all that appealing to us.  So, we decided to head north to Yeats Tavern for dinner, mostly because it was the only place nearby that we could find open. 

Yeats, the famous Irish poet, is buried nearby, and Marty had us walk down to the graveyard to see his grave.  I opted not to trek all the way to see it, but did capture this photo of a 9th century Celtic Cross that stands in the cemetery. 

We headed back to our B&B, just for some chill time.  Tomorrow, we head north and are staying outside of Donegal Town, in the same B&B where we stayed many years ago when we made a quick trip out to visit family.  We're looking forward to even more adventures! 

T