Sunday, August 25th

We needed to set out from Dublin for County Mayo early in the morning since Barb had made an appointment with her third cousin Imelda to meet at the Killasser Church for 11:30 am mass.  Imelda (who lives in London), had arranged for a Carr mini-reunion starting at the very church where Barb’s Irish great-great grandfather Hugh Carr had his first two sons baptized before immigrating to the U.S. in 1865.  Many Carrs still live in the area and Barb welcomed the opportunity to meet some of them.  While driving the three hours to Killasser we passed hundreds of cars going in the opposite direction (towards Dublin) flying red and green flags on the sides of their cars.  We didn’t know what that was about, but supposed it involved some type of athletic event.

We had difficulty finding the church since the back roads leading to the church were so narrow and full of bends.  We used the iPad to get to the general vicinity, but then took a wrong turn down a single-lane road that had grass growing in the middle of the track.  We knew there was a pub (where we would all gather after church) across the street from the church and so we expected to find a small village — but we could find no such thing.  Finally we asked someone working in his front yard for instructions and were directed onto an asphalt road that was just barely wide enough for opposing traffic.  We made it with only ten minutes to spare and were surprised at the size of the “village”.  Just a few homes, the church, and the pub.  Introductions were made to many Carrs, but we learned that a number of them were missing; County Mayo was a semi-finalist in the All-Ireland Gaelic football competition being held in Dublin — so that solved the mystery of the many flag-bedecked vehicles heading in the other direction, and explained the absence of many of the male Carrs. The County Mayo team had last won the All-Ireland  county title in 1951 so the possibility of winning the semi-finals and playing in the finals on Sept 22 was a big deal.

But I digress.  During the mass the priest, Father Durkan, initially dedicated the mass to the Carr family but focused most of his sermon around the efforts of the Mayo football team with only a belated short tie-in to the need for Christians to show similar dedication and determination.  We were amused when later in the service he had the congregation say a prayer for the team.

After mass Barb was able to take some photos of the baptismal font that would have been used for her ancestors.  The priest was charming and joined the Carrs in the pub for the afternoon reunion.  Imelda had ordered sandwiches to be brought in so we had a nice afternoon tea while we all visited and exchanged stories.  While Barb was busy visiting, I watched the televised junior division semi-finals with Father Durkan, who explained some of the features of the game as it was played.  Gaelic football is apparently unique to Ireland.  In some respects it resembles a combination of basketball, football, hockey and soccer.  The ball is round and somewhat like a soccer ball.  Points are scored by kicking the ball between goal posts or into a net under the posts.  Goals into the net count for three points and those over the net but between the goal posts count for one.  The players wear no protective clothing, and run with the ball in order to get into position to score, but may take no more than four steps before either “throwing” (by striking the ball with a hand) or kicking or dribbling the ball once or dropping the ball and kicking it back into the hand.  There seemed to be no emphasis on tackling, but rather on possessing the ball.  Should a carrier and the ball be temporarily “tied-up”, it appeared that action stopped and began again with a kick of the ball.

All of the televised commentary for the game I saw was in Gaelic.  The priest explained that a certain percentage of television must be in Gaelic, and that the station had evidentially decided to fulfill that requirement during the junior contest, which they refer to as the “minor” contest, since all of the participants are no older than 18.  Incredibly enough the County Mayo minor team was also playing and they won the game I watched.  About the time the big game was on late in the afternoon (and after some of the relatives who lived a distance away had left) it was suggested that we go visit the places in the area where the Carrs used to live and go see some of the gravestones.  Barb was quite moved to be welcomed so warmly into the family since it had been almost 150 years since her ancestors had left Ireland.

At the cemetery we discovered that the Irish often reused graves (in the same family) and would dig up all the old skulls and lay them on top of a new casket before it was covered up.  Thus the gravestones didn’t tell the whole story.  Also many graves had collapsed and many gravestones had fallen.  In an old section of the graveyard the surface was quite uneven since there were so many sunken holes and overgrown fallen stones.  We were also shown a number of ruins of Carr houses.  When we returned to the pub we found a celebration underway since the County Mayo majors had also won the semi-finals.

Although Imelda lives in London, she and her husband also have a charming and large Irish home.  She invited us over, and we had a typical Irish meal of ham (they call it bacon), potatoes, cabbage, blood pudding, and salad followed by dessert.  Delicious.  Her husband Mike had been in Dublin for the game and arrived home with his sister and two friends about 10:00 pm. We were entertained by their stories of their day and of local politics.

Monday, August 26th

We met cousins Imelda, Desmond, Ann, and Gerard and began a tour around the area to see more of the Carr family and then to visit Gerard’s farm.  It was heartbreaking to hear some of the stories of family members being evicted during the difficult times following the famine.  We found a number of houses with no roofs and learned that land was taxed as if someone was living in a house even if it was vacant if there was a roof on it.  Thus, they removed the roofs to avoid taxes. We also saw the ruins of a church from the Middle Ages.  It was destroyed during one of the purges of the Catholics in Ireland.  Barb was surprised that a lot of it was still there after all these years and no one had torn it down to build something else.  Barb’s Irish relatives explained that no one would ever consider doing that, either out of respect or out of fear of faeries.  We thought “thank goodness”.

Cousin Gerard had us over to his house for tea and we met his children. The oldest is home for a few more days until he goes back to the university in Galway where he is studying computer science.

Then we went to the Heritage Museum, an incredible display that is essentially the work of one dedicated man.  It started as a tribute to his family and featured the restored home of his childhood.  Over the years he has added buildings and rooms to exhibit various aspects of life as it existed in that part of Ireland in former times.

Imelda thought it might be interesting to contrast the two sides of Ireland.  We had spent the day seeing and hearing about the hard lives of the poor.  She and Mike took us and Desmond to Mount Falcon to experience how the other half had lived.  The lodge was built in 1860s  and reminded us of Downton Abbey.  Massive in size and grandeur, it was the hunting lodge for a rich landowner who owned much of the farmland in the surrounding area.  It was just such a family that had owned the land from which Barb’s ancestors were evicted for being unable to meet rental payments.  Fantastic meal and fantastic way to dramatize the contrast between the tenant farmers and the landowners.

Tuesday, August 27th

We drove to meet Sheila at Croagh Patrick, nicknamed the Reek, a 764 meters (2,507 ft) mountain that is the third highest mountain in County Mayo.  It forms the southern part of a U-shaped valley created by a glacier flowing into Clew Bay in the last Ice Age.

Croagh Patrick had been a site of pagan pilgrimage, especially for the summer solstice, since 3,000 B.C. It is now a site of Christian pilgrimage associated with Saint Patrick who reputedly fasted on the summit for forty days in the fifth century A.D. Thousands of people climb the mountain every Reek Sunday, which is the last Sunday in July.  A small chapel was built on the summit and dedicated on July 20, 1905.   A seam of gold was discovered in the mountain in the 1980s:  the ore could yield potentially over 300,000 troy oz of gold (worth over $475 million). However, the Mayo County Council decided not to allow mining.

A bank of low clouds occluded the peak for most of our visit.  Barb and I walked up the beginning of the path, turning around at the statue of St. Patrick and the sign which promised a special dispensation for those who made it to the top and performed prescribed rituals at each of the stations.  We also saw a Famine museum, and the ancient ruins of a church. Sheila drove us to Louisbourg to see the coastline.  Driving back, we noticed that the clouds had cleared enough for us to see the chapel at the top of the mountain.  When we got back to the Reek, we had lunch at a famous restaurant at the foot of the mountain:  Campbell’s.

Back at our B&B, Cathy picked up Imelda and Barb and they went to her place to sort out genealogy records and have dinner.  Another instance of unforgettable warm hospitality.  I stayed at the B&B to recover from all the family talk.

Wednesday, August 28th

We checked out of our B&B in Swinford and stopped in briefly at Imelda’s.  She presented Barb with a Killasser school book that covered the last 100 years.  It has a number of photos of Carr relatives in it and some history.  We said a sad farewell to Imelda, who had been so generous and helpful.

We decided not to return directly, but to see some sights on our way back to Dublin. We stopped first in Kitimagh where Barb’s great-great grandfather married Mary McDonagh in 1860.  We took back roads through the countryside to Kylemore Abbey where we visited the castle, mausoleum, the miniature cathedral, and the gardens.  It was built starting in 1861 — around the time Barb’s great-great grandfather found conditions to be so difficult that he had to immigrate to the States with his wife and two children.  The estate was incredible.  Then we stopped at Connemara National Park where we learned about the bogs and how  87% of the peat  has been consumed in the past 90 years.  We saw lots of peat harvesting underway and can only imagine that it will all be gone soon if it is not protected.

We took the “Sky Road”, a twisty narrow road high above the coastline west of Galway.  We decided to spend the night in lovely Clifden and used our trusty iPad to find a B&B for the night.  They in turn advised us where to find a good pub for dinner, where we had a great meal, some smooth and creamy Guinness and some fantastic Irish music.  Very nice.

Thursday, August 29th

We headed back to Dublin.  We were going to go to the Gaol in Dublin, but when we arrived the lines were too long and we had to get our rental car returned within two hours, so we scratched that plan.  We checked into a hotel near the car rental place.  Barb wanted to visit the tomb of Matt Talbot, the “patron saint” of alcoholics, so she headed out to do that while I started processing some of the gazillions of photos we had taken in Norway and Ireland.

Friday, August 30th

We caught an early shuttle to the airport — which turned out not to be too early after all.  Turns out there is a US Customs and Immigration office in the Dublin airport.  After we went through the normal check-in procedure and through security, we were sent to the US Customs and Immigration area, not because we aroused extra suspicion, but because we were bound for America.  We were pre-checked into the US as if we had just landed into the US from a foreign country; we submitted a US customs form and were interviewed about visits to farms and whether or not we were bringing in fruits, etc..  And then we were sent through security all over again(!), sending jackets and shoes and computers, etc., through yet another x-ray machine and setting off metal detecting alarms with our artificial knees, even though the only access to this security check was through the normal Dublin airport security.  BUT.  Barb had also been randomly selected for an additional screening interview, so we were glad we had taken the early shuttle and had had plenty of time to deal with all the additional steps and long lines.

PS:  The pre-check takes the place of the normal check that occurs when one lands in the US; when we arrived in NYC we did not have to go through Customs and Immigration again.

PPS:  Dublin won the other semi-final Gaelic football match, so on September 22 the finals for the All-Ireland County championship will be Dublin against County Mayo.  Can you guess who we will be rooting for?