A Short Visit Back to Ireland

Still on Day 4 in Ireland,we left Waterford and the crystal factory and headed to New Ross to visit a replica immigration ship. The original Dunbrody was used for immigration between 1845 and 1847. It was shocking to see such a small wooden ship that was used to transfer Irish immigrants in search of a better life in America. The conditions for the lower class immigrants were horrible and I couldn't imagine the horror they endured in pursuit of a better life. My Irish ancestors came over on such a boat and I admired them even more for that. The way it was set up was that when you arrived you were given a "Passengers' Contract Ticket" that indicated what type of passenger you were. I was Mary Rodgers, 19, traveling as steerage to New York. Character actors portrayed the different classes of passengers on the ship. We learned that steerage passengers only got porridge to eat and only 1/2 hour of time on deck daily on a voyage that took 50 days. These ships were often called "coffin trips" because of the many who died on them.

That was an interesting stop but was very crowded because of the hordes of teenagers from Spain visiting at the same time. It is very common for Spain to send thousands of teenagers to Ireland to learn English for the summer. We saw them everywhere!!

After the Dunbrody, we went back on the bus and headed to Tulleroane for an evening of authentic Irish food, music, sport and storytelling. On the drive there, we passed through the town of Inistioge where the movie "Circle of Friends" was filmed (had Minnie Driver in it). It was a very pretty town.

We arrived at Tulleroane and was greeted by Frank who is the caretaker of this place. We saw a thatched roof that was built in the 1600s by the Kelly family and is the oldest thatched roof in Ireland. The house was eventually passed on to the Maegher family and Lory Maegher was considered the greatest sportsman ever in Ireland.


There was a musuem of Irish sport and Frank showed everyone the sport of hurling. Greg loved it and of course, we came home with 2 hurlers and slithers (sticks and balls). Frank was quite a character and you could tell he loved sharing Ireland with the tourists. After a dinner of cabbage, ham, spuds and pie, we headed over to the old kitchen of the house and listened to Irish music and storytelling with Paddy and Jim. They were very entertaining and the music was very enjoyable. Our tour bus driver showed up with Irish coffee with whiskey and we all shared a few toasts before boarding the tour bus for a trip back to our farmhouse. It was a very long day, but lots of fun.

Next up Day 5 and we head to Cobh - formerly Queenstown and the last stop for passenger pickup for the Titanic!!!