Boston
The Irish Cultural Centre of Greater Boston has abundant reasons to be joyful this holiday season, as it celebrates an important milestone and presents another robust season of Irish music, dance, social gatherings and family fun this Christmas and through the winter months. Thirty-five years ago, in 1989, a group of Irish and Irish-Americans came…
Aer Lingus, Ireland’s flag carrier, has been connecting Boston to Ireland since October 1958, when the first non-stop flight went from Boston Logan International Airport to Dublin Airport. Today, Aer Lingus remains the perfect airline to take you back to Ireland, and to easily get you to some of Europe’s finest cities. With direct flights…
Quincy Welcome Center Shop 1259 Hancock Street, Quincy The newly renovated Welcome Center next to Hancock Adams Common offers a variety of cool Quincy-themed merchandise, from sweatshirts, hoodies, tee-shirts, hats and tote bags to coffee mugs, sunglasses, magnets and key chains. You can also pick up free maps, brochures and tour information from friendly tourism…
The Boston Public Library (BPL), founded in 1848 and acclaimed as the People’s Palace, has an incredible collection of books, videos, music, genealogy resources and educational materials available to the public. The BPL also has a celebrated collection of art and sculpture throughout the library that inspires library staff, visitors and residents every day. The McKim Building itself is…
Kip Tiernan, Photo courtesy of Rosie’s Place The next time you are exploring Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail, stop by the memorial to Kip Tiernan (1926-2011), social activist, writer, teacher, visionary and provocateur. The Kip Tiernan Memorial is located in Boston’s Back Bay on Dartmouth Street between Newbury and Boylston streets, next to Old South Church, and…
Irish-born Launt Thompson (1833-1894) was a consequential American sculptor of the 19th century whose monuments of the Civil War and classical themes were hailed during his lifetime. Born in Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland in 1833, he emigrated in 1847 with his widowed mother and settled near Albany, New York. Like the other Irish sculptors such…
The next time you’re exploring the Irish Heritage Trail or Boston’s Freedom Trail, be sure to stop by the USS Constitution ship and the Irish Heritage Trail in the Charlestown Navy Yard.The USS Constitution is America’s oldest commissioned ship, first launched on October 21, 1797. It is berthed in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and operated by the US Navy, in partnership with the National Historic Parks of…
Dublin-born sculptor Stephen J. O’Kelly (1850-98) was a successful artist in late 19th century United States, creating several important memorials that still stand today. Born in Dublin, he studied art in Paris and opened a studio in London before immigrating to Boston, where he lived for much of his adult life. He had Roscommon roots, and his brother,…
Located along the Seaport District on Fan Pier and situated along Boston Harborwalk, the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse is a tribute to South Boston native Joe Moakley, who represented his neighborhood and district as a state representative, state senator, Boston City Councilor and U.S. Congressman for 48 years. The Moakley Courthouse is part of Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail, an…
One of the most gifted 19th century Irish-American sculptors, according to art historians, was John Talbott Donoghue (1853-1903) , a Chicago native who lived in Boston in the 1880s and whose life and career ended tragically when he took his own life. Donoghue was discovered as a struggling artist by Oscar Wilde during the famous…
Henry Lee, Boston’s beloved civic leader, parks advocate, teacher and historian, died on Monday, August 12, 2024, from cardiac arrest. He was 99. Lee is best admired and renowned in Boston for spearheading a grass roots movement in the 1970s to prevent the development of high rise buildings encroaching on the perimeter of the Public…
Boston’s vibrant neighborhood of Charlestown has a rich Irish history that goes back to the American Revolution and continues today. There are several landmarks in Charlestown that visitors can explore along the Boston Irish Heritage Trail. Here are a few or our favorites. A Boston National Historic Park overseen by the National Park Service, the Bunker Hill Monument is…
Henry Knox, a first-hand witness to American history and a hero in the American Revolution, was born in Boston on July 25, 1750, the seventh of ten children. His parents, William Knox and Mary (née Campbell), were Ulster Scots immigrants who came to Boston from Derry in 1729, part of a large exodus of Ulster-Irish Presbyterians who…
Boston has been a gateway city for Ireland’s flag carrier Aer Lingus for more than six decades, and this key transatlantic connection continues to grow stronger each year. With daily non-stop flights from Boston’s Logan International Airport, Aer Lingus flies daily directly to Shannon, in the west of Ireland, and twice daily to the capital…
The popular BosTix discount ticket booth, a staple at Faneuil Hall since 1979, is back in business, after being closed since 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. The kiosk reopens this Wednesday, July 10, marking a new era for the booth’s nonprofit owner, ArtsBoston. For more than four decades, BosTix has offered a direct connection between the area’s…
America’s first great portrait artist, John Singleton Copley (1737-1815) was born in Boston on July 3, 1738. He was the son of Irish immigrants who emigrated to Boston in the 1730s. John’s parents, Richard Copley and Mary Singleton from County Clare, were married in County Limerick before emigrating to Boston. Right after their son John…
Born 180 years ago 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…
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…
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…
Boston’s most iconic public monument, the Shaw Memorial, was officially unveiled on May 31, 1897. The homage to the 54th Black Infantry Regiment of Boston is considered one of America’s most significant Civil War memorials. It was the first public monument to accurately depict black soldiers in military uniform. The memorial was created by immigrant Augustus…
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…
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,…
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…
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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These organizations promote Irish Culture in New England.
