Beginning

Beginning 11 Jul 2017

CHORUS OF EAST PROVIDENCE (RI)

arrives at Logan Or, maybe Airport via chartered buses to start its "American Song" tour of Ireland.

Two years in the planning with many fund-raising activities and (no Or, maybe ) personal outlays from those signed on.  About half the chorus chose to make the tour, many traveling with members of their families.

Well, where should we set the beginnings of Ireland?

12,000 BCE.  

All except the southern-most part of the island was under glaciers in the Ice Age.

The first humans are thought to have crossed on a land mass from England to Ireland around 7,000-8,000 BCE.  

Or, maybe start with the legendary kings.  [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/ihm/]

Or, maybe, start with the arrival of Christianity in 400 CE.

Or, maybe, start with the tribes and territories of the "Golden Age" of 600 CE.

It is an old place.  It has a long, twisted and haunted history.  The pain and blood of that history would show themselves in the cities of the "north of Ireland" as the Republicans call it.

Me?  I started from Logan.

My plan was to enjoy the first week of tourism and singing and then to rent a car and explore the Isle on my own.  My hope was to find some connections with the legends of the McCloy Scotch-Irish roots and the Callahan (my mother's side) Irish roots.