Friday, March 07, 2008

It's Friday again!

The Potato Famine



This week we took our American visitor - Flat Duke (a horse) to visit some gardens near the shores of Lough Neagh. Dotted throughout are wooden sculptures. This one is particularly poignant, depicting victims of the potato famine which claimed almost 1 million lives. During the famine which lasted six long years, another 1 million Irish would immigrate to North America.



These two sites are the most informative that we've found. We used this one at History Place two years ago when we did a short study on the potato famine. This other page at Digital History is concise but thought provoking.

Visit Mary in Canada to read some other entries for her Friday S&T

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's very interesting. My dad was telling me some family history recently about his great-grandfather who immigrated to America from Ireland during the potato famine. It's neat to be able to see the actual sites!

Anonymous said...

I will have to check out those links when I have a chance. I know great-great-grandfather immigrated from Ireland with his family when he was a young adult as did my great-great-grandmother. I don't know all the details though. I do know they didn't marry until years later here in the U.S. I have no idea if they knew one another in Ireland or not. I dabbled in genealogy for several months, but it was so time consuming and I ran into several brick walls.

Anonymous said...

It's so amazing how one thing can so devastate and change the history of a country and it's people. Thanks for sharing and educating us further.

Anonymous said...

That looks like a neat place to visit!

Thanks for visiting my show and tell post on a dash of sassitude. )

Anonymous said...

wow that is very interesting. It too two years for the govt. to respond with help, that is sad.

So you are going to visit the USA I see? What highlights are you going to visit?

Anonymous said...

Wow, That was interesting.
Dot
www.homeschoolblogger.com/hsingone/

Anonymous said...

That is very interesting!
Such a coincidence...My daughter was just telling me that she wants me to make baked potatos!

Monsoon said...

Thank you so much! Yes, Norway has nature that is diverse and gorgeous, it really does. However; I LOVE the island you live on. I lived for two years in Celbridge in country Kildare in Ireland. I did visit Belfast once, a beautiful city I thought. And I knew a woman there who originally came from country Armagh. She told me aobut it, and showed me pictures. Looked absolutely stunning. Next time I go to Ireland, I simply must visit Norhtern-Ireland.

Take care, and Happy Easter, when that time comes.

Greetings form Norway - Eilen