Are you planning a visit to Ireland in 2016 for the 100th Anniversary Commemoration of the 1916 Uprising? Why not come with us and join Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfe Tones for an unforgettable 10 day journey around the historical sites and landmarks that made Irish history!…

" It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.” 

                                                                          - Mark Twain

On April 25th of 1919 in…

Many cultures throughout the world lay claim to having heard or seen the Banshee. Many stories of the Banshee can found in America; the most prevalent of these sightings are said to have happened during the 18^th century and came near Tar River, in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. In these cases, however, the…

I would have known I am Irish had I been adopted at birth by a family with a different nationality. Sooner or later, I would have woken up to the fact by simply paying attention to the way I am wired. It’s the little things within us that tell us who we are, the things that we are born with, that…

I found this website a while back and was able to note the location of several interesting monuments and find them while I was in Ireland in June. This is by no means all the war memorials in Ireland, far from it, but it's an attempt to catalog them.

The site…

The past, present and future happily coexist on my workplace doorstep. I’d written about the past in four books, but it was the future that caught my eye one day in the form of a crane, standing stark against a grey Dublin sky.

I work in a newspaper in the city centre, on Talbot Street. During my lunch break, I would leave the office and walk past the…

What would you expect to see inside this old overgrown cottage on the side of the road in Donegal? Would you just pass by or would you try and get in to have a look?  Well, I was passing this cottage every day a few years ago until eventually, my curiosity got the better of me.

It wasn’t that difficult to enter, despite the tangle of brambles…

Shamrock

The shamrock is the traditional symbol or Ireland. The shamrock forms a triad and the Celts believed three was a mystical number. Saint Patrick used the shamrock to explain the holy Trinity to the Celts. If good things come in threes then this silver 3-leafed shamrock pendant in beautiful…

The Wild Atlantic Way waters are alive with all kinds of marine creatures ... with their own interesting stories to tell.…

With her luxurious platinum locks, enormous honey-colored eyes and a petulant mouth, Elizabeth Conway (pictured) has the appeal of a pedigreed Persian cat in heat. By looking at her head shot, one would surmise that this girl, both aristocratic and…

I was just reading through some articles on another site regarding the dark history of the Orphan Trains and their arrival in Arizona. In doing further research, I came across this amazing article written by Margaret Regan.

Here is the article in its entirety, reproduced here with her kind permission. It…

Among the many islands that scatter the coastline of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way, you'll find traditions and cultures proudly being kept alive. Explore just some of these incredible stories!…

When silence overcomes me

My dreams they seem to fill

Of my dear native happy home

Nigh Comeragh's rugged hills

 -- From a poem by Pat Keating

My wife, Lindy, and I have just completed…

"My favourite adventures on the Wild Atlantic Way happened to be in the worst weather." While the sun doesn't always shine in Ireland, you can always have fun on the #WildAtlanticWay. Read Sherry Ott's…

I ran across a man and his daughter lost in the 19th century history of Buffalo, Dr. John Cronyn (pictured) and Juliana Cronyn. They were extraordinary people by any stretch of the imagination.

John Cronyn was born in Blackrock, a suburb of Cork City, in 1825 and moved with his parents to Toronto. He finished first in his medical…

The Irish custom of “waking the dead” has long been thought off as a purely Irish tradition, and many would argue that this is, indeed, the case. However, if we look at paganism, spiritualism and other religions, it is not too hard to find similarities in their traditions with ‘waking the dead.“ They believe…

On July 22, 2013 I formed this group to honor my Roscommon heritage.  We now have over 1,500 members worldwide who are focused on researching their Roscommon heritage as well as helping others with  Roscommon research.  There is no charge for our services. If your heritage includes County Roscommon, we would be happy to have…

The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. Unfortunately, their last stronghold was conquered by the Spanish in 1572. From 1438 to 1533, they used a variety of methods that included conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate a large portion of western…

As I watched Ken Loach's newest film, “Jimmy’s Hall,” I was struck by how, as had also been true in “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” Paul Laverty’s writing and Loach’s directing of that writing is free of pretension.

Loach (pictured, foreground) doesn’t need fantastic sound tracks or the latest and greatest special…