Marine Hospital & Quarantine Station Staten Island, New York

Bog oak, formed from felled trees absorbed into bogland, is preserved by the acid in the ground encasing it. For sculptor Kieran Tuohy, each piece of this dark ancient timber immortalizes the past. Bog oak holds secrets, secrets that are thousands of years old. At The Irish Workhouse Center, Portumna, Kieran’s exhibit, Dark Shadows ensures that we never forget the turmoil and suffering that engulfed our country, during the years of An Gorta Mor. The exhibit transports the ...observer to the Great Hunger in such a way that viewers of these sculptures can sense the damp, stench-ridden and wailing sounds of utter devastating cruelty. In the accompanying video, Kieran talks about his latest addition to Dark Shadows, a sculpture entitled Hope and Despair. Kieran tells the story of a couple depicted in John O’Connor’s The Workhouses of Ireland, The Fate of Ireland’s Poor. Please listen as Kieran tells the unfortunate fate of Patrick and Kate during the winter of 1847- the worst winter on record in Irish history. Kieran Tuohy’s website is: http://kierantuohy.com/ Clare Doyle - narrator. David Broderick video creator. Declan O'Rourke- singer & songwriter. Song -Poor Boys Shoes @KieranTuohySculptor Irish Workhouse Centre - Portumna

Happy Sunday Morning all and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the Moms! Just one more week until our gathering at the Marine Hospital and Quarantine Station's Cemetery for National Famine Remembrance Day from 2-4 PM Please visit our Events Page at https://fb.me/e/267YBfgXD to see more.... Today, I have Bill Fahey's speech from our gathering in 2019. Bill had some mind-blowing facts and figures regarding produce being shipped out of Ireland during the famine. In other words, a famine means total crop failure, the years 1845 - 1851 only saw the potato crop fail due to blight, everything else thrived. So, it wasn't a famine, it was starvation, The Great Hunger, An Gorta Mor. Here's Bill Fahey with the facts and figures in 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch

https://www.rte.ie//1138847-national-famine-commemoration/

Every year we participate in the National Great Hunger Commemoration which is held on the 3rd Sunday of May. Due to the current situation we will not hold an event. This year the National Commemoration Committee is asking for individuals to Shine a Light in memory of those that perished.

Recent article which appeared in the New York Times. Along with the full skeleton remains that were found and removed, countless scattered human remains were found throughout the site. This was attributed to the grading of the cemetery in the 1950s when they created the municipal parking lot. https://www.nytimes.com//a-quarantine-hospital-so-unwelcom

New Yorker Bill Fahey has been honored for his decades of work to recognize the victims of An Gorta Mor'.

‘And People Stayed Home,' Kathleen O'Meara poem,1869, Written after An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger)... And people stayed home and read books and listened and rested and exercised and made art and played and learned new ways of being and stopped and listened deeper someone meditated someone prayed someone danced someone met their shadow and people began to think differently and people healed and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways, dangerous, meaningless and heartless, even the earth began to heal and when the danger ended and people found each other grieved for the dead people and they made new choices and dreamed of new visions and created new ways of life and healed the earth completely just as they were healed themselves.

As we approach St. Patrick's Day, let us remember the Great Irish Hunger 1845-1852. Staten Island was home to the Marine Hospital & Quarantine Station which operated from 1799-1858. During the years of the Irish starvation tens of thousands of Irish immigrants came through New York Harbor in search of a future. They were unfortunately held in quarantine on Staten Island due to disease, countless perished and were buried at two S.I. cemeteries owned by the facility. No death certificates were issued, no cemetery burial log kept. Today they are our ancestors who vanished.

We are all scattered due to An Gorta Mor. It would be amazing to meet family who stayed.

https://www.irishcentral.com/ne/irish-griffintown-rem-stop

Years ago Rick Murrin wrote this song on behalf of our effort. We do like to repost it every few months as new members join our page. It provides a haunting vocal of the tragic event of 1847

And from the Gazette

Growing up we were told we had "soft Irish teeth" from generations of one diet, the potato... https://www.irishcentral.com//teeth-reveal-diet-during-iri

Walk to the Stone 2019 # 2

Sligo Famine Graveyard. More than 2000 famine victims are buried in this graveyard. The Faoin Sceach Sculpture is by Fred Conlon. May they feel the warmth of a tear, May they hear the pipers lament. May they know we, the survivors, keep vigil.