Western New York Irish Famine Memorial
Posted by: 
Rayman
N 42° 52.836 W 078° 53.091
17T E 672738 N 4749725
This memorial in Buffalo's Inner Harbor commemorates the deaths of more than one million Irish people due to the Great Famine.
Waymark Code: WM9RB
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 04/02/2006
Views: 143
THE SITE
From the mid- to late-19th Century, the Buffalo Waterfront became one of the world's largest inland immigration points. Many immigrants from Ireland sailed across the Atlantic and continued their journey to the eastern ports of North America and onward to Western New York. Those entering the country through the port of New York often crossed the State on the Erie Canal in search of work. Thousands of Irish settled here at this monument.
The Western New York Irish Famine Memorial is within view of the Old Erie Canal, the grain and steel mills, and other industry that flourished with Irish labor. It is here that the Irish lived, worked and secured liberty for themselves and their families.
DESIGN OF THE MONUMENT
Traditional in character, symbolic in nature, the monument contains elements important in Irish culture.
The granite standing stone from Carraroe, County Galway, is set off center to represent the Irish Diaspora. The well surrounding the standing stone symbolizes "The Great Silence", that period following the Famine when no one dared speak of it.
The biblical inscription in Irish below the standing stone is an expression of a culture and language and a memory nearly lost. It translates "If these walls were to be silent, the very stones would cry out."
The circular memorial field, filled with names of Famine victims, those who survived, their descendants and friends symbolically ends "The Great Silence." Those stones left blank honor the unknown who died as a result of An Gorta Mór.
32 limestone boulders form the monument's outer ring. They represent Ireland's 32 counties. These rough-hewn stones, a gift of the people of Cork, Ireland, once formed Penrose Quay in Cork Harbor. Upon these, many emigrants walked to make their journey from Ireland, some for the last time.
THE MEMORIAL
In 1995, 26 Western New York Irish Cultural organizations through the Western New York Irish Famine Commemoration Committee and with cooperation from the City of Buffalo, County of Erie, Buffalo Arts Commission, and interested persons from many places, joined with the City of Cork, Ireland, to erect and dedicate this monument in recognition of the terrible cost of "An Gorta Mór", The Great Hunger, and the struggle and achievements of the Irish people in this country.
Dedicated August 23, 1997
Website with background information about this Waymark: [Web Link]
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