Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial - Providence, Rhode Island - Irish-American Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial is along the Providence River, just to the northeast of the intersection of Dyer and Hay Streets in Providence, Rhode Island. Its genesis dates from an October 1995 Mass of remembrance celebrated in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the start of "The Great Famine". What followed was nearly two years of discussion and the Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial Committee was founded in May 1997. After fundraising and a nationwide search, the sculptor Robert Shure was selected to design and execute the plan. The completed work was dedicated 17 November 2007, then rededicated 14 September 2019, once repairs were made due to vandalism and theft at the site in August 2018.

The memorial's webpage describes it:

The Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial commemorates the struggles and triumphs of our Irish immigrant ancestors. A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of three Irish figures elevated on a stone base portrays the despair of the past combined with an enduring sense of optimism, thus reflecting the strength of our ancestors' immigration and their achievements in America. Extending from the statue are two walkways bordered by inscribed donor bricks and granite flagstones.

The walkways lead to a semicircle of bricks facing the memorial wall, which tells the history of the "Great Famine" in narration and imagery. The wall features vignettes of Irish life at the time of the Hunger, traces the immigrants' escape to a new world, and recounts their struggle to overcome adversity in building a new home for themselves and their descendants.

Website with background information about this Waymark: [Web Link]

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