Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Derry)andAndrewJackson(Carrickfergusroots)—wholater shapedAmerica'swestward
migration. You'll also find good coverage of the
Titanic
tragedy, and its effect on the Ul-
ster folk who built the ship and the loved ones it left behind.
Cost and Hours:
£6.50; March-Sept Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00; Oct-Feb Tue-Fri
10:00-16:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-16:00; closed Mon year-round; cafeteria, 2 Mellon Road, tel.
028/8224-3292,
www.nmni.com
.
Nearby:
The adjacent
Mellon Centre for Migration Studies
is handy for genealogy
searches(Mon-Fri10:30-17:00,closedSat-Sun,tel.028/8225-6315,
www.qub.ac.uk/cms
)
.
Donegal is the most remote (and perhaps the most ruggedly beautiful) county in Ireland.
It's not on the way to anywhere, and it wears its isolation well. With more native Irish
speakers than in any other county, the old ways are better preserved here. The northern-
mostpartofIreland,Donegalremains connected totheRepublic byaslim,five-mile-wide
umbilical cord of land on its southern coast. It's also Ireland's second-biggest county, with
a wide-open “big sky” interior and a shattered-glass, 200-mile, jagged coastline of islands
and inlets.
This is the home turf of St. Colmcille (St. Columba in English; means “dove of the
church” in Irish), who was born here in 521. In the hierarchy of revered Irish saints, he's
second only to St. Patrick. A proud Gaelic culture held out in Donegal to the bitter end,
when the O'Donnells and the O'Dohertys, the two most famous local clans, were finally
defeated by the English in the early 1600s. After their defeat, the region became known as
Dun na nGall (“the fort of the foreigner”), which was eventually anglicized to Donegal.
As the English moved in, four Donegal-dwelling friars (certain that Gaelic ways would
be lost forever) painstakingly wrote down Irish history from Noah's Ark to their present.
This labor of love became known as the Annals of the Four Masters, and without it, much
of our knowledge of early Irish history and myth would have been lost. An obelisk stands
in their honor in the main square of Donegal town.
The hardy people of County Donegal have come out on the short end of the modern
technology stick. They were famous for their quality tweed weaving, a cottage industry
that has gradually given way to modern industrial production in far-off cities. A small but
energetic Irish fishing fleet still churns offshore—in the wake of larger EU factory ships
poaching traditionally Irish waters (see “Irish Fishermen Feel the Squeeze,” later).
Butculturally,thecountyshines.ThetraditionalIrishmusiciansofDonegalplayadriv-
ing style of music with a distinctively fast and forceful rhythm. Meanwhile, Enya (loc-
