We made it to Ireland, and we were greeted with blue skies! We picked up our rental car at the airport. Unfortunately, they gave us an upgrade to a larger car, exactly what we didn't want, and no smaller cars were available. We headed north from Belfast to the Antrim coast and Bushmills where we checked into the loveliest airbnb that I think we'll find. We grabbed a quick late lunch and headed to the Giant's Causeway, a gorgeous area of basalt columns on the coast. We picked up take-away for dinner since the few restaurants in town were booked. We ate in our room overlooking our hosts' lush vegetable garden. After dinner I just had to knock on her door for a tour of the garden and a lovely visit with her and her husband! The perfect ending to our day!
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| Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge |
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Toured Bushmills Distillery,
the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world! |
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Walking through the ruins of Dunluce Castle
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Dunluce Castle
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Wonderful people!
People were so friendly and helpful. At least four different times, people just stopped and offered tips and advice as we traveled around Ireland!
The boy that was left behind
In 1846, Mark's ancestors came to the United States on the ship Superior from County Tyrone, Ireland. His great great great grandparents Samuel and Jane Fenton brought 8 of their 9 children with them, and left one behind. Mark's dad understood that the child, George, who was left behind in Ireland, was 18 or 19 years old, had a girlfriend and so stayed in Ireland. Another story that we heard in Ireland was that the child was just an infant, and too young to make the trip and so he stayed with his mother's parents and brothers. The third and most likely story is that George was 7 or 8 years old and stayed in Ireland to take over his unmarried uncles' farm.
During the pandemic, some English cousins contacted our side of the family in the states (more on those cousins later). Through them we learned that there was still family in Omagh, Northern Ireland, still living near the farm that George inheritied. We were able to contact them on Facebook Messenger before our trip. We traveled to County Tyrone and we were so fortunate to meet descendents of the son that was left behind. Marshall Fenton (Mark's 4th cousin) and his wife Linsay picked us up at our Airbnb, brought us to a wonderful restaurant, and treated us to a great dinner, so we could get to know each other. They also introduced us to banoffee pie and our first authentic Guiness stout. A pint in Ireland just seems better than anywhere else! After dinner, we toured the countryside to see where the old Fenton land was, and to see where George once lived. Marshall took us to his childhood home to meet his parents, Roy and Margaret, and two more cousins that still live nearby, Roy's siblings Hazel and Marshall.
We had such a wonderful visit, and we were welcomed so warmly! We just couldn't stop smiling over the fact that we were meeting family that we didn't know existed until a few years ago, and here we were in their home! We even were able to get Mark's dad connected through the internet so that he could meet the family also!! Hopefully we will have have a chance to see them again!
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The lower part of this building was the old house where George,
the boy that was left behind, lived before it was converted to a barn |
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| Dinner with Linsay and Marshall |
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Back row: Margaret, Mark, me, Marshall
Front row: Hazel, Roy and Marshall |
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| The Fenton men |
We spent the next day at the Ulster American Folk Park and the adjacent Mellon Centre for Migration Studies library. We had a wonderful librarian that helped us find some census data to help us try to solve the mystery of the boy who was left behind!
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| A replica of a ship similar to the Superior that brought our family to the US |
We headed south from Omagh, and county Tyrone, to continue our adventure.
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| Corcomroe Abbey from the early 13th century |
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As we drove through the Irish countryside, I thought to myself
that it would be nice to visit another castle. Shortly after,
we happened upon Dunguaire Castle.
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| The Cliffs of Moher, a popular tourist attraction |
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Beautiful coastline at the cliffs
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We spent the night in the small village of Doolin, where we walked down the road from our Airbnb for dinner and great traditional Irish music!
On our way to Tralee, we stopped at a great beach, called the Banna Strand, with beautiful sand dunes, and surprisingly warm water!
Our next destination was the Dingle Peninsula and the Slea Head Drive.
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| We felt like we were in the Caribbean with the water colors on Dingle! |
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| The view from Dunquin Pier |
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| Some interesting standing stones |
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Cool rocks
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i never knew that fuscias could be tree size! I thought they just grew in baskets that I always buy and hang outside for the hummingbirds! These were gorgeous, and grew as hedgerows all over Ireland! The flowers in Ireland and Scotland were so beautiful!
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These were enormous and growing wild!
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| So much color everywhere |
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Gallarus Oratory, an early church that is over 1000 years old. The stones were fit together so perfectly with no mortar so it is still water tight!
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Since we had another perfect weather day, we made a stop at another beautiful beach on the Dingle peninsula called Inch Beach. Cars were parked right on the huge beach. Signs indicated the high tide time and warned that cars needed to be moved before then so they didn't get washed away. After the beach, we headed for Killarney and a wonderful dinner followed by fun entertainment by a street musician.
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| Inch Beach, a beautiful long and wide beach |
The next morning we started our drive on the Ring of Kerry. We stopped at Cahergal stone fort, and took a distant peak at Ballycarberry castle then on to the Skellig ring. After driving the roads in Scotland, Mark was ready for Ireland's single lane winding roads!
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| Cahergal stone fort was built around 600 AD, flights of stairs ran all around the inside of the outer wall. |
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This was a fortified settlement, and you can imagine
guards standing on top of the wall keeping watch |
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Remains of a circular
building inside the fort |
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Views from the Bolus Barracks walk
(we only did a part of the walk) |
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| The Cliffs of Kerry were quite impressive |
We spent the night at an airbnb right across the street from St. Finian's Bay! Great spot!
Continuing around the ring of Kerry the next morning, we visited Derryanne beach and gardens. We overheard someone say that this was the prettiest beach in Ireland, so we didn't want to miss out! It was absolutely beautiful, we didn't want to leave!
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| Islands and coves at Derryanne beach |
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| Mussels and small shells |
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Staigue stone fort is one of the largest ring forts in Ireland.
The walls are 6 meters high and 4 meters thick, with 2 small chambers built into the wall.
The fort would have housed a number of people, and was set in a beautiful valley. |
We spent the next two nights in Kenmare, Ireland. It was one of our favorite small towns. It was picturesque and pretty. We enjoyed live traditional music both evenings there! The next morning we headed into Killarney National Park for a walk to Torc waterfalls. The trail took us through a lovely woods lined with rhododendrons! After the waterfall hike, we walked around Muckross Gardens and down to the lake.
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| Torc waterfall |
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Muckross Lake (this view reminded us a bit of
Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park) |
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Muckross House looks small behind
this spectacular tree! |
We continued on to a tour of Ross Castle, a 15th century tower house that overlooks Muckross Lake.
One of our favorite stops was a ruin that we almost skipped because it was getting to be late in the afternoon. It is Muckross Abbey, a Franciscan friary founded in 1448 and rebuilt several times. Growing inside the central courtyard is a big beautiful yew tree that is believed to be around 400 years old. There were passageways, staircases and walkways to explore!
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| The beautiful yew tree in the courtyard |
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| This beautiful lace design in the shape of Ireland was made by the owner of our air bnb. |
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| Kenmare, a picturesque Irish town |
After leaving Kenmare, we headed east through County Cork and on to the Rock of Cashel. Dating back to th 11th century, it was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster, one of which was converted to Chrisianity by St. Patrick. The king of Munster donated his fortress to the church. It is a very popular tourist attraction and quite crowded.
We continued east to Glendalough, an early monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. St. Kevin was a young monk who moved to the isolated and beautiful area intending to live as a hermit in nature. His reputation as a holy man and teacher spread and it became an important monastic site. Unfortunately it was destroyed by the Normans in 1214 AD. The site has many Celtic crosses and other well preserved gravestones. It was notably the first day that we had any rain while we were in Ireland, but it didn't interfere with our plans.
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Glendalough is set in a beatific valley with lakes, streams,
a pretty waterfall and even a small mountain for Mark to hike |
We drove north to Belfast to return the car. Yeah, now Mark could relax! We dropped the car at the airport, hopped on a bus into the city center, then walked to our hotel. This is why we packed in backpacks, to give us the flexibility to take public transportation. We also had small duffle bags which gave us some extra space.
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Backpacking down in the elevator!
We packed light and had enough. |
Belfast is a combination of old buildings and new. There are murals and pubs and markets. We explored the city and took a tour of the city hall.
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| Belfast City Hall |
We took a bus from Belfast to Dublin. We did our own walking tour of the city. We wandered around Trinity College and the Temple Bar area, then peeked at Dublin Castle, which just looked like a city building to us at first. We walked into a pretty garden and stuck our head into a church. It was St. Audoen's Church, which is a medieval parish church that is still in use and is also part of Historic Ireland. A wonderful docent there have us a brief history of Dublin, which was originally founded by the Vikings. Afterward, we checked out the Chester Beaty collection of ancient books and manuscripts.
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| An older section of St. Audoen's |
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We had lunch in the gardens outside St. Patrick's Cathedral
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| Dublin Castle |
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We enjoyed sampling local beers
at traditional local pubs! |
The people of Ireland, and the family connections that we have there, made for an amazing visit. When we arrived back in the US, our Irish connection continued. Ian Fenton and Lynn Buckley, more cousins descended from George that now live in England with their spouses Helen Fenton and Roland Buckley, came for a visit and for the annual Fenton family reunion. We had a wonderful time getting to know them and discussing our shared heritage and possible stories of the son that was left behind! They toured areas that were originally settled by the Fentons around Newcomerstown, and met with different cousins each day to share information, stories and food.
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Roland, Ian, Helen and Lynn, our cousins from England
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This ends our wonderful Irish journey, thanks for coming along on our adventure!
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