Five pairs of Tix! Five Winners! Winners attend both days!
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Getting outside in summer is a pre-requisite in New England, especially after a dreary winter! Check out our schedule of…
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Courtesy of Hardiman Hotel, Galway https://www.thehardiman.ie/hotel-dining/fathers-day/
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Born on June 28, 1844, John Boyle O’Reilly helped shape the history or Ireland and America in the late 19th century in powerful ways. Today, O’Reilly’s stature as a seminal figure in Irish and Irish-American history is particularly evident in his beloved birthplace of Dowth, County Meath; in Freemantle, Australia where he was imprisoned; and…
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President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Ireland on June 26-29, 1963 was later described by his siblings as one of the most memorable and cherished parts of his presidency. Kennedy visited his ancestral family in Wexford and Limerick, and also stopped in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The trip was widely covered by the international media…
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Get ready New England and the world, as Quincy, Massachusetts prepares to commemorate its 400th anniversary, and you are invited! “In 2025, Quincy celebrates the 400th anniversary of its settlement,” says Mayor Thomas Koch. “400 years of the people and ideas that have shaped America. 400 years of history, diversity and culture. 400 years of…
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Paul Muldoon County Armagh’s Paul Muldoon has distinguished himself as a daring, insightful, skillful poet, willing to fly into flights of fancy with alliterative cascades of language. The Princeton-based, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet is also a melodious lyricist who has written opera librettos and rock stanzas. Some years ago, Muldoon gave a joint reading with singer/songwriter…
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On June 12, 1937 a plaque dedicated to Captain Jeremiah O’Brien was unveiled at the Massachusetts State House commemorating O’Brien’s “distinguished services for winning the first navel engagement in the War of the Revolution and of his subsequent exploits in said war as the first regularly commissioned naval officer and commander of the Revolutionary Navy of…
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Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA) is releasing today its 2024 summer/fall issue of Travel & Culture magazine, a free travel publication highlighting Irish and Celtic festivals, concerts and cultural and sporting events taking place in New England, as well as travel tips for visiting Ireland this summer and fall. This issue features a new exhibit…
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Many people wonder why the Boston Celtics wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why is the team mascot a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtics official website, the name came…
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The City of Quincy is opening its newly designed Welcome Center this week, part of a concerted effort by city leaders, tourism officials, historians and businesses to prepare for the 400th anniversary of the city’s founding in 2025. The innovative and interactive Welcome Center is a key component of the city’s celebration, and has been specifically designed to offer an…
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Think you know Dublin? If you haven’t been to Dublin lately, you are in for some delightful surprises! Of course, Ireland’s capital city retains all of its old-world charm and history that has attracted visitors time immemorial: Trinity College and Christ Church Cathedral, St. Stephen’s Green and Phoenix Park, Leeson Street and O’Connell Street, Glasnevin…
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Niall Williams with Christine Breen A well-lived life is the best kind of life if it brings daily fulfillment and contentment. Married couple Williams and Breen have built such a life in rural Kiltumper, County Clare, Ireland, raising a family and building community, all the while tending a garden and writing books. The centerpiece of…
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A number of Irish immigrants and Irish-American sculptors created some of the most distinctive Civil War Monuments of the 19th Century. Here are three of their monuments in Boston and Cambridge worth visiting: 1. The Shaw Memorial, atop Boston Common and facing the Massachusetts State House, was officially unveiled on May 31, 1897, a homage to…
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Neal Thompson Readers are always eager for a new book on the Kennedys, especially one that chronicles the family’s journey from impoverished immigrants to the pinnacle of power, wealth and achievement, exemplified by the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Neal Thompson’s book The First Kennedys delivers a well-written, lively account of Patrick Kennedy and his…
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As part of Ireland’s annual National Famine Commemoration taking place in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford on Sunday, May 19, 2024, the Boston Irish Tourism Association has compiled information on ten Irish Famine Memorials throughout New England. These memorials were erected between 1914 and 2019 and built by local Irish communities to commemorate the Irish Famine of the 19th century, which…
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The Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial is a permanent memorial in the capital city of Providence that commemorates the victims and survivors of Ireland’s famine years in the mid-19th century. The memorial occupies a prominent location at Dyer’s Landing along the River Walk in Providence. Created by sculptor Robert Shure of Skylight Studios, the Memorial was dedicated…
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On Saturday, May 30, 1914, Massachusetts Governor David I. Walsh joined officials from the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Ladies Auxiliary to unveil a granite Celtic Cross in memory of Irish immigrants who perished during a storm off the Massachusetts coastline in 1849. 7000 Hibernians from all over Massachusetts attended the ceremony, according to a story…
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Damien Murray The evolving identity of the Boston Irish during the first quarter of the 20th century provides a fascinating backdrop for Damien Murray’s book on Irish nationalism. Murray, an Associate Professor of History at Elms College in Chicopee, examines how Boston Irish identity was shaped by seismic events in Ireland like the 1916 Easter…
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Molly (Page) Stark (1737-1814), whose husband General John Stark was a hero in the American Revolution, has been honored for her own role in the war. On June 26, 2004, officials, historians and members of the Stark family unveiled the Elizabeth Page Molly Stark statue in Wilmington, as part of Vermont’s Molly Stark Trail, a 40-mile scenic byway on Route…
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Today, Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) joined elected officials and community stakeholders to celebrate the start of the 2024 cruise season at Flynn Cruiseport Boston, which runs through November. Read full press release. Building upon the success of last year, Massport expects to welcome 169 vessels from 25 cruise lines, an increase of 15% over 2023. The Norwegian…
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Ancestors of the early Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony discouraged Jews and Irish Catholics from burying their congregations in local cemeteries the first half of the 19th century. Boston had long been known as a place where outsiders were considered with suspicion and hatred, due to their religion or ethnic backgrounds. According to Mass Moments,…
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Dan Milner Dan Milner’s new book, The Unstoppable Irish traces the ascension of Irish Catholics in New York City through music over a full century, from post-Revolutionary War to post-Civil War. Folk songs, broadsides, songsters and sheet music form the thread for this evolution and lend insight into how the Irish were perceived and how…
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One of New England’s true military heroes of the American Revolution was General John Stark (1728-1822), the son of Scots-Irish parents who emigrated to the American colonies in 1720 and settled in the Scots-Irish colony of Nutfield, NH, where John and his brothers were raised. Today, the former settlement is comprised of the towns Londonderry, Derry…
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The family of President John F. Kennedy has deep roots in Massachusetts, dating to 1848, when all eight of JFK’s eight great-grandparents arrived in Boston, escaping the Irish Famine that was devastating Ireland. From Boston, Cambridge and Brookline to beautiful Cape Cod and the cities of Springfield and Holyoke in western Massachusetts, the Kennedy legacy…
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Days before President Abraham Lincoln’s April 15, 1861 proclamation seeking 75,000 volunteers to join the Union Army, men from Boston’s Irish community met on April 10 to “express unflinching devotion to the Federal Government.” Irishman Thomas Cass of Boston’s North End immediately began recruiting Irish immigrants to form the Massachusetts 9th regiment. The volunteers came largely from…
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The Titanic Memorial in Washington, DC, an iconic depiction of one of the major maritime tragedies of the 20th century, was carved in Quincy, Massachusetts by local sculptor John Horrigan, who used a 20-ton slab of granite to complete the masterpiece. The pedestal, designed by Henry Bacon, used granite from the quarries in Waverly, RI. Gertrude Vanderbilt…
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