My World Tuesday: Irish Abroad

Everywhere we go this summer while visiting West Virginia, we're reminded of home.




For one thing, the landscape of West Virginia is much what we're used to: rolling fields and green mountains, cows and rivers. People here tell us that the region was settled by mainly Irish and German settlers, and we imagine that they might have felt right at home here.


Then we drove down Route 19 and found ourselves driving through a town called Ireland. The kids loved it; there was a gazebo decorated with shamrocks, a wooden train to climb on, and a slide. The town hosts an annual 'Irish Spring Festival' too.



On every drive it seems we find another road or street or other landmark that is Irish-something, like Irish Corner Road.



In Elkins, we discovered a lawyer who celebrated his heritage with a "Failte" sign, which means "Welcome". We were there on Sunday however, so no chance to say hello, though we enjoyed seeing the sign and the kids were delighted to read it. It sounds like "fall-cha".



We went on a daytrip to Gettysburg to teach the kids some American history last week, and it turned out we could teach them some Irish history too, as many Irish fought in America's Civil War--enough to warrant at least two gift shops in the town, it seemed, one general and one for the Irish Brigade.




Gettysburg was a treat, filled with antique shops with names like Abe's Antiques (featuring Abraham Lincoln's portrait) and the Spirited Lady shop that I loved. I loved the town and want to go back; we didn't get enough time to really explore. Antietam is another place I'd like to stop, and the Irish Brigade has a memorial there too, I'm told.




The best "Irish" surprise for us by far was in Cumberland Maryland, where we visited the canal museum, strolled along the shops by the waterfront, then decided to walk a ways along the canal trail to enjoy the summer day.



There we discovered an Irish cross with an inscription that dedicated it to the memory of the Irish canal workers who had died while working on the railroads and canals in America. We stopped a moment in their memory.






It seems if we want to truly get away from home for our summer holidays, we'll need to go much farther than this! But I guess it all keeps us from getting too homesick while we visit, and counting our blessings that we can go home again, while that just wasn't possible for immigrants two hundred years ago.




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