My Grandmother Mary Shine Finucane, who I had never met, was born and grew up in Ireland. Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland to be exact. Knowing I was heading over to the Emerald Isle for my daughters wedding, I planned a trip to the sleepy town of Newmarket into our itinerary. And I'm so glad I did.
Armed with directions from my sister which began with, "Find your way to Newmarket...." and a picture she took of my Grandmothers front gate, ( which looks just like the thousands of other gates in Ireland ) we really didn't have much trouble finding her house.
Below is Newmarket, Ireland.
After driving down a single lane back road looking for the aforementioned gate, we found it. There was no "NO TRESPASSING" sign, and before I climbed the gate to her property, I yelled, "Is anyone home?" ( no I didn't.)
The house sits way back on the property, you can hardly see it from the road but as we approached it I knew from pictures my sister took, that we had found it.
Did I mention that it needs a little work.....LIKE A ROOF!
Below my daughter Erin is inside.
Here I am inside what we figured would have been the kitchen because of the huge hearth that was there.
Erin and my son in law Matt look out from the living area of the house in the photo below. Did my Grandmother stand there and look out that very window the day before she left this house in the early 1890's? I wonder. She would have been close to 20 years old when she departed Queenstown, Ireland for the United States.
Below I hold a window shutter that my wife handed me through a window from the inside. Just in case the Ireland Guard or the U.S. Customs agents read my blog, that's all I'm gonna say about Grandma's shutter.
After about an hour or so, we left the same way we came in.
Walking away from the house back to the car, I kept looking around this large property and asking myself, " Did Grandma Finucane walk where I'm walking now when she was a kid?
I like to think Mary Shine Finucane, who has been dead since 1946, just knew I was there.
And she was smiling.
But she'd be appalled at the condition of her roof.
5 comments:
That is so cool to be able to find her house. It's a shame it's in such bad shape.
I have visited the town in Germany where my grandfather was raised because we still have relatives in that area. Finding a home in such disrepair is a little sad, but times were hard in Ireland so I guess it makes sense. Very cool about the shutter. What shutter? I'm sure it's on the ground right where you left it.
Oh, Mark. What a special experience. So glad you went looking and found your grandmothers house, how awesome.
And my immediate thought was ... I sure hope you grabbed a piece of your history there and brought it home with you,
BUT, KNOWING THE LAW ABIDING CITIZEN THAT YOU ALWAYS ARE, I JUST KNOW YOU LEFT ALL AS IT WAS BECAUSE THAT'S JUST WHAT YOU'D DO.
I shutter to think that you left behind such a precious family heirloom.
:-)
I am SO excited about that shutter that wasn't! How cool is it that you were there!! PS - I love the pic of you and your wife that graces the top of your blog now!!!
I have NO doubt your grandmother knew you were there and approved! Until reading your posts about this recent trip, I had no idea Finucane was an Irish surname -thought it was Italian! My mothers maiden name was Shakespeare - I only 'get' nationalities when they're too easy to miss!
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