May 12 - Ireland and Moonan Genealogy

Well, Pat and I are off on another trip. This one is to Ireland where we will tour the country and also try to do some genealogy research on the Moonan side of the family.  We will be leaving Weeki Wachee on Thursday, May 14th and driving to Columbia, SC for an overnight stay.  Then on Friday we drive to Charlotte, NC where we will catch a US Air flight to Dublin Ireland.  Why drive to Charlotte?  Well we had frequent flyer miles on US Air but couldn't find a connection from Tampa that  worked but could find one out of Charlotte and the cost to fly from Tampa to Charlotte was ridiculous, so we're driving.

We will arrive in Dublin on Saturday, May 16th, in the early morning. A taxi will meet us at the airport and take us to the small town of Collon, which is about an hour north of Dublin and located in the Boyne Valley.  This is a very historic area with many medieval ruins in particular the ruins of Monasterboice Abbey (www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/monasterboice) and Mellifont Abbey (www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/mellifont-abbey).  Collon is the town that we believe my great, great grandfather, George Francis Moonan, came from in about 1836 and there are still Moonan families living in the area.  I've been in contact with a a local historian and a local genealogist who believe we are probably related to one of the families that live near Collon. We will be staying at a B&B in Collon that is in the former manor house of the Lord of the area, www.collonhouse.com.  Also nearby is the town of Tullyallen which is where we believe my great, great grandmother, Katherine Devin, came from.  We don't know if they were married in Ireland or after they came to the US but that is one of the things we will try to find out.  We will spend four days in the area and then head to Dublin on Wednesday.

In Dublin we will play tourist and also visit the genealogy center in the National Library for more research.  Then on Sunday, May 24th, we will join a Trafalgar Tour of Ireland.  Here is the map that shows the route we will be following on this tour:



The circles with the numbers show the towns we will be staying in and the number of days in that town.  As you can see we will cover most of Ireland.  We will arrive back in Dublin on Tuesday, June 2nd.  We will then spend an additional four days in Dublin before we fly back to Charlotte on Sunday, June 7th.  While in Dublin this time we are planning on taking some day trips in the area, especially to County Wicklow.  This area is called the garden spot of Ireland and has a number of medieval towns and ruins to explore.

Finally, after arriving in Charlotte we will drive to Columbia, SC, for an overnight stay before driving the rest of the way home on Monday, June 8th.  While in Ireland we will have free text messaging and email access but calls are charged on a per minute basis.