Pictured at right is Paul Vincent Carroll, born in Dundalk, County Louth.  He was a friend of my parents, Michael and Lilian (Power) Quinlan, when they were all members and actors of The Dundalk Drama Society in the early 1930s.  Paul's best known play was "Shadow and…

When I first heard the phrase "boutique hostel," I figured it was a bit of marketing gimmickry at work. I mean, hostels were bottom-of-the-barrel, right? I suspected the word "boutique" was in line to replace "charming" and "lots of character" for describing accommodation that wasn't quite up to par.

Well, this summer I got a taste of modern hosteling,…

There's a very good article here from The Irish Times on new numbers from the Department of National Defence in Canada on the Irish who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War 1, although the number is likely underestimated. There is a new history project initiative in Sligo to help…

In every issue of ISLE magazine, we feature Irish made and designed products. 

In our Premier Issue which went live in September 2012, we did a big feature on Ceardlann, the craft village in Spiddal, County Galway. You can read that issue in our archive on our our website.  Above and just below are…

Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842) was born in Chile -- not Ireland.  However, his father, Ambrosio O'Higgins (a Spanish colonial Viceroy) was…

Who was "General O'Reilly," and how did a man with such an Irish name become the "Spanish Governor of Louisiana?"

While on a consulting assignment in August of 2000, I was bicycling through the streets of New Orleans and randomly came across a historic marker that read: "Fort St. Charles On Oct. 25, 1769, under Gen. O'Reilly, Spanish governor of…

General John Alexander McClernand, born May 30, 1812, Kentucky, self- educated lawyer at age 20 and private in Blackhawk War with Abraham Lincoln as his Captain. Son of Dr. John, immigrant from Antrim, Ireland and Fatima Cummins (her ancestors were part of the Jamestown…

I have been researching the history of Irish martial arts - styles of wrestling, boxing and stick-fighting - for about 30 years now. To the best of my knowledge, Glen Doyle of Newfoundland, Canada is the only person on earth who still practices a living style (not one recreated through books or manuals) of Irish stick-fighting. He learned and inherited…

Linkedin Long-Form Post #8

James Francis Smith

Irish in the American Revolution’s only Fictional Character

I decided to create fictional Mary Carr in order to smoothly include such historical characters as Patrick Carr, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere.

There wasn’t much I knew about Patrick Carr, except he emigrated from Ireland only to be killed in the Boston Massacre. By providing a fictional sister, I described in depth the massacre, had Paul Revere befriend…

As we were heading north on R-702 in Kiltealy, County Wexford during our recent vacation to the southeast of Ireland, my eye caught sight of some sort of plaque on the wall along a driveway to the right. There was a beautiful horse farm that seemed to run along both sides…

Creevykeel Court Tomb is made up of a long, trapeze shaped cairn which encloses an oval court, and a burial chamber that is…

Did you know that Ireland is a fly through for millions of migrating birds en route to North Africa and other parts of the Middle East?

Spiral Journeys will…

We cannot believe that Christmas is a mere 5 months away and so for this post we asked our Founder, Lisa McGee to put together a list of her top 10 Irish Food & Drink…

We’re marking the 75th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. And yes, an Irish national --- Julia Canny a.k.a. Sister Mary of Saint Isaac Jogues --- was present and survived. My story together with the accompanying photographs (reproduced below) appeared in the 11 August 1999 editions of two Irish newspapers:…

So who the **** was Guillermo (William or Liam) Brown?

Guillermo (William or Liam) Brown (1777 - 1857) was an Irishman acknowledged as the “father of the Argentine Navy.” That’s right, an Irishman founded the Argentine Navy. The Argentine Navy Destroyer,…

The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish In the English-Speaking World

By Thomas Keneally (of "Schindler’s List" fame)

Reviewed by John Edward (Ed) Murphy

Overall a good book and a very scholarly work. Great Shame covers significant historical events in 19th century Ireland,…

Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Sshe was the daughter of Carmen Louise (née LaPorte) and John Watson Slaton, both of whom were waiters. Dorothy Lamour was of French Louisianan, Spanish and Irish descent. Her parents' marriage lasted only a few…

The Healy family is an interesting Irish-American and and African-American family.  I did the following book review a couple of years back:

Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920

by James M. O’Toole

Reviewed by John Edward “Ed” Murphy

I first learned of the Healy family in January 1959, when I paged…