In 2025, Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA) celebrates its 25th anniversary as a distinctive cultural tourism organization that promotes culture…
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A cool way to experience Ireland is to ‘settle yourself,’ a common Irish phrase that means to get your bearings…
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For visitors looking for an urban experience, Ireland has two cities you can’t miss. Dublin, the Capital of the Irish Republic, and Belfast, the Capital of Northern Ireland, are amazing places that blend together proud histories, bustling downtowns, and a distinct blend of history, culture and natural beauty that you won’t see anywhere else in the world. …
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Travelers at Boston’s Logan International Airport have a new reason to linger in the airport between flights. Passing through the new Walkway between International Terminal E and JetBlue Terminal C, passengers can stop to view a fascinating new permanent exhibit entitled Four Centuries of Innovation. Unveiled last summer by Massport CEO Thomas P. Glynn and…
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Lawrence native William J. Sullivan is a leader of the vibrant Irish-American community in Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley. An educator in the Lawrence Public Schools, Bill served for 35 years as a Teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal and District Administrator until his retirement in 2009. Bill has also been a member of Lawrence’s Rev. James…
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As part of the centennial celebrations of the birth of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the US Postal Service issued a Forever stamp in his honor. The unveiling of the stamp took place at the John F. Kennedy Library & Museum on President’s Day, before a large audience of public officials, historians, educators and members of…
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How to get around in South Boston: take the Ray Flynn Bridge to the Ray Flynn Marine Park, then head over to the Ray Flynn Cruiseport. Ray Flynn, one of Boston’s iconic figures over the last half century, continues to receive accolades from city and state officials for his distinguished career as a politician, diplomat…
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Bates Hall, Boston Public Library As part of the centennial commemorations marking the Irish Rising of 1916, Boston Irish Tourism Association has complied this list of scholarly resources in the Greater Boston area. The Boston Athenaeum has numerous books, magazines and newspapers from the period, plus a rare British recruitment poster entitled: The Call to Arms, Irishmen Don’t You Hear…
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Passengers passing through Logan International Airport can have a pleasant aesthetic experience while waiting for their baggage or for connecting flights, thanks to Massport’s successful Public Art Program. Public art and educational displays enhance the customer experience while also supporting local artists and institutions, according to Massport officials. They also give travelers a strong sense…
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By the time Irish immigrant John Boyle O’Reilly arrived in Boston in 1870, at age 26, he had already come face to face -in the most urgent manner- with issues of freedom, liberty and justice. As a child, born in 1844, he survived that terrible Irish Famine decade which killed one million Irish and sent…
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They came to sing the praises of Tom McNaught. Political leaders, historians, friends and family journeyed from across the country and across the city to the JFK Library in Boston recently to personally thank the congenial, effective and popular administrator who is retiring after a 17 ½ year career at the JFK Library Foundation. Those…
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Photo courtesy of Stephen O’Neill “On May 19, 1832, Boston’s Catholic Bishop, Benedict Fenwick attempted to bury two Boston children, three-year-old Florence Driscoll, who died from teething, and three-month-old James Kinsley, who died from infantile disease, at the recently opened Bunker Hill Catholic Cemetery in the town of Charlestown, Massachusetts, right across the bridge from Boston. “The obligation to…
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Michael Quinlin Globe Pequot Press is proud to announce the release of 2nd Edition of IRISH BOSTON: A Lively Look at Boston’s Colorful Irish Past (978-0-7627-8834-7; October, 2013; $18.95 paperback). This new edition updates the illustrious story of the Boston Irish, from the 1700s to 2013, with updates on how Boston’s Irish community has been…
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Toll Gate Cemetery Photo Courtesy of Remember Jamaica Plain? The Boston chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians is paying tribute to the fallen Civil War soldiers from Massachusetts’ Irish regiments with a ceremony at Toll Gate Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Boston, on Saturday, September 1, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. The event is free and open to…
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Fenway Park – it’s as American as apple pie and, well, baseball. The “lyrical little bandbox of a ballpark,” as local writer John Updike described it, is a national treasure, one of the few remaining ballparks to survive a century of wear and tear, heart ache and exultation. Fenway has a distinctive Irish tint over the…
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Scotland’s poet and bard Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 – July 21,1796) is honored in Boston with a statue at Winthrop Square in Boston’s Financial District. Best known for composing the unofficial anthem to New Year’s Eve, Auld Lang Syne, Burns was a prolific poet who wrote over 300 poems, as well as various epistles and ballads. He was prolific in…
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Congratulations to Tom McNaught, who was recently appointed as the new Executive Director of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston. He’s been with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum since 1996, and is a long-time veteran of local politics and activism. We sat down with Tom to learn more about his…
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The 150th anniversary of the American Civil War (1861-65) starts in 2011, and organizers across the country hope it will help shape a national consensus – or at least a sincere dialogue – on American values and aspirations. The anniversary can also be a reminder of how society turns to art to explore grief, conflict…
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Tom Butler has spent his entire life making Boston a better place to live – and to visit. As Director of Government and External Affairs at Massachusetts Port Authority, the agency that oversees Logan International Airport and other facilities, Butler is the agency’s go-to guy for making sure that the economic growth spawned by Massport…
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In the early 1700s, Irish and Scottish settlers began infiltrating Boston’s solidly Puritan stock, coming by the boatload or as stragglers wandering up from New York of down from Halifax. They were indentured servants and small town merchants, sailors and mercenaries, farmers and preachers. Before basketball was invented, these were the original Boston Celtics! Many…
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One of the enduring songs from the 19th century is When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, first published in Boston by musician Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore. The song was part of the musical literature of the American Civil War, and subsequent wars for that matter, since it captures the sentiments of families waiting anxiously for their loved…
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Senator Ted Kennedy was a great champion of Massachusetts, the place he called home. When we started the Boston Irish Tourism Association in 2000, he sent a Welcome Message for visitors coming to the state that was good humored and lighthearted, but his pride and love for Massachusetts was clear. Here are some comments below…
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Dan Rooney, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, is marching in the 59th annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Holyoke, western Massachusetts, on Sunday, March 21, 2009. Ambassador Rooney is receiving the John F. Kennedy National Award issued by the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Parade committee. The prestigious award is presented each March to an American of Irish…
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It began with stubborn, old wallpaper. That’s what set Kevin O’Connor on a short road from fan to host of WGBH’s This Old House, the long-running home-improvement TV series that is one of Boston’s most beloved cultural exports. In 2002, O’Connor and his wife, Kathleen, bought their first house, an 1894 Queen Anne Victorian north of…
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Boston’s Logan International Airport was named for General Edward L. Logan (1875-1939), a first generation Irish-American, military leader, civic leader and municipal judge with family roots in Galway and South Boston. Edward was the oldest of nine children of Lawrence and Catherine (O’Connor), according to Michael Cummings of Milton, an expert on the Logan Family. …
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There’s no getting around it – Massachusetts is Kennedy Country. From the cobblestone streets of Boston to the sandy beaches of Hyannisport, the Kennedy legacy is as much a part of Massachusetts as the Boston Pops, the Red Sox and a Cape Cod Clambake. Local Irish-Americans have a natural affection for President John F. Kennedy,…
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