Choctaw memorial

 Full circle from Dublin to the Choctaw memorial in Bailick Rd, Castleredmond, Midleton. Thanks Peter for the hint as to where it was, really close to our route towards Cork City, and cousin Rose.

Boy that was a tricky travel, punctuated by a Saturday shopping traffic jam, a toilet stop and back the way we came. It better be worth it.

It is.

So the memorial sits in an open landscape at the start of an estuary of the River Lee.

The plaque beside it reads:

Kindred Spirits Choctaw Monument

Artist: Alex Pentecostal

This sculpture of nine stainless steel feathers acknowledges our thanks to the Choctaw nation for that kindness to our ancestors during the Famine (An Gorta Mor - the Great Hunger) in 1847. They, only 16 years before, had been dispossessed of their sacred lands and forcibly removed to Oklahoma. They had suffered the “trail of tears” on which many died, particularly the old and the young, during one of the harsh winters in memory. Yet on hearing of the suffering of Irish men, women and children, they had the kindness, generosity and greatness of spirit to respond and help by donating $170, a huge sum of the time. This Choctaw monument is a token of our thanks for their Famine Gift. In bestowing the Choctaw Famine Gift, they bestowed a blessing, not only on the starving men, women and children of Ireland, but on the whole of humanity and progressed the evolution of all mankind. 

Go Raibh Mile, Mile Maith Agaibh.

Yokoke Chito.

For those of us from Watson, The Holy Rosary Church was right next door. 

So it was peaceful scene, surrounded by thousands of now flown-blown tulips which would have been beautiful and evocative of the color of the Indian peoples. Around the perimeter are LED upwards lights, so an array of colour at night could occur.

Beside the estuary was this sign - I know what Julie would be looking for!