For a graduation gift my parents are sending me to Europe for some 15 to 20 days to explore! One of my must see stops is Cork, Ireland, where my father's side of the family is from. My grandmother Mary Jane Corkrum's parents came from County Cork, hence the last name... creative right? haha In doing some research about County Cork, Ireland I have found that it was a central fixture in the Irish civil war in the 1920's and was the last stop before the departure of the Titanic( or a region close to Cork). The Blarney Stone is in a close vicinity to Cork ( just don't kiss the Blarney Stone, a local told my dad they pee on it and watch the tourists kiss their pee rock.... gross!) My strong Irish roots are something that cannot be ignored and it would be amazing to actually be able to visit the county where my family is from.
There is still a ton of work and research to be done, but this would be a possible topic for our research paper? Hopefully I'll have some interesting family history!
Europe for graduation gift?!! You're soooo lucky, its on my bucket list to travel to Europe one day. That's really cool how you found out about the County Cork, and now I know if i ever go to The Blarney Stone to never kiss it ! Lol
ReplyDeleteWow that sounds really cool and its great you doing some research on your ancestors. I actually saw a documentary of Rick steve's traveling to Ireland and he is with his family and sightseeing and his wife actually kisses the rock and I thought gross the natives probably don't even do that and its just another tourist prank. Well good that you already know about it. My husband is actually part irish as well and I think Ireland will be our next travel location as well.
ReplyDeleteI bet the locals get a kick out of those dumb tourists kissing the pee rock. That would be interesting for you to research in depth your great grandparent's trip to the US, especially before you go there. Even just reading deeper into Ireland's history before the trip would make it that much more memorable. It is important to know where you came from and to get back into touch with that place. It will be interesting to see if anything surprising pops up for you, as Mrs. Fitzgerald said can happen, if you research your family.
ReplyDeleteIreland is very nice, I have friends from there, but they always tell me to go to Northern Ireland. I heard its crazy and you can see a lot of history there. As well you can see a lot about immigration, with the collision of Catholic Irish and Protestant Irish who lay their allegiance with the English. Interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteCounty Cork is often referred to as the point that many Irish Catholic immigrants left ireland from. Often County Cork was picked as the location because customs agents didnt understand or care what the irish were saying. Research your family name and you could probably find some distant relatives in Ireland, there are a lot of really kind locals. Also try to go see some of the pagan relics and statues and monastery's. check out places such as "skellig michael"... youll be blown away
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