Inside the roofless old Spanish chapel, the first rays of the early morning Texas sun were illuminating the room with a soft golden glow through the acrid air, clouded by black powder smoke. But what was being illuminated by that rising sun in the chapel of this mission called…

As nine year old Rosalie Hart came up onto the deck of the schooner “Sea Lion” there was a furious gale blowing. She and her family were thousands of miles from their home in Ballymoney, County Wexford, Ireland. She breathed in the clean sea air; a welcome relief from the…

He stands in bronze and he stands on granite,

Facing the river where the fleet turned tail;

The stone lists the Davis Guards upon it,

Names that rhyme in the songs of the Gael.*

Around 3:30 on an afternoon of September 8^th 1863, on…

Most folks look to the East Coast, Boston, New York, Washington D.C., when they think of the Irish in America and their contributions historically. However, it was the Irish who were among the first Settlers in what was then Spanish-ruled Texas.

Hugo O’Conor, Roscommon…

November 22^nd. Strikes a sullen chord. Any year -- and yet this year, it is the 50^th year. Striking a crescendo of deep and bitter sadness.

Maybe it’s because I was raised in a house where John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s picture (clipped from the Sunday Daily News…

Here's a great review for Michael Hogan's…

Jed Marum, a Boston lad who now calls Texas home, is a storyteller in true fashion of the Seanchaí of old.  He traces his heritage and roots back to Kilkenny and Galway. I can easily see him amongst the Bards of old entertaining Kings and commoners alike. 

Jed  has been performing on the Folk and Celtic music…

An Open Letter to Bill…

Ireland to Texas, the Circle is Complete

In the most unlikely places, connections can be found linking two cultures, two worlds and two vastly different centuries. Such was the case in a small, village in County Laois, Ireland.

At the edge of Ballybritas, on the back road to Vicarstown, sits the dairy farm of Michael and Brigid Dempsey. It is a quiet, unassuming…