humanity – Page 49 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Queenstown Glamour

The SS Servia, a notable transatlantic ocean liner, features in the movie “Far and Away.”

April 8, 2021October 6, 2023 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Nothing so grand as the SS (or HMS) Servia carried my ancestors from Ireland to America. This ship model, created for the 1992 film “Far and Away” is on display within Cobh Heritage Center. Said by some to be the first true transatlantic ocean liner. Launched in 1881 as luxury transportation by the Cunard Line of today’s Queen Mary. Last year, we enjoyed the arrival of Cunard’s Queen Victoria to Cape Canaveral. (Click the link for my blog of the event, one of the last cruise ships to sale during the pandemic of 2020).

It is notable the model played a small role in the film, yet is an incredible accomplishment. By the way, from 1849 to 1920 Cobh was known as “Queenstown” in honor of a visit by Queen Victoria. The Irish Free State returned the name to the original.

References

SS Servia – Wikipedia

Far and Away – Wikipedia

Coolcreen View Six

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 2021 “No Snakes”

March 23, 2021March 18, 2021 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Number six of six from the Kerry County side on the descent Healy Pass, R574. Here we move away from, say goodbye (hopefully, for now) to these marvelous views, our first sight of County Kerry.

Two more strange, conical hills come into view, repeating those in the distance. These have a long story.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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Coolcreen View Three prime

Coolcreen Townland

March 22, 2021March 18, 2021 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Number three of six from the Kerry County side on the descent Healy Pass, R574. I enhanced view three to level the horizon. A side by side comparison is provided, below.

It is possible to just make out several lake houses. Click me for more information about who live here during the early twentieth century.

Click me to learn more about the name of the lake.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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Visible from this point on R574, Healy Pass, is Glenmore Lake, the Rivers Drunminboy, Glanstrasna flowing into a sheltered inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1911, the Irish National Census lists nineteen (19) persons of five (5) families listed with the names O’Sullivan, Sullivan and Shea. From this view this is a puzzle until the map is examined. The land transitions from this rock to a steep, then leveling slope down to Glanmere Lake and a stream running from the heights with plenty of reasonably level, fertile acreage. There is a glimpse of a lake. Like many of the Irish place names, Glenmore Lake has a connection to the Irish Language name, Loch an Ghleanna Mhóir. Roughly translated the name means Large Lake of the Glen. The names in use today, in English, are derived from the sounds of the Irish. It happens the Irish Ghleanna sounds link Glen (or in another version, Glan, roughly the same). Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

Coolcreen View Five

horizontal

March 19, 2021March 16, 2021 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Number five of six from the Kerry County side on the descent Healy Pass, R574. Less sky and more land in this horizontal aspect.

Lavender hedgerows drawn the eye to that conical distant hill. In the lower left the new rhododendron leaves are flower-like.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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Coolcreen View Four

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2021March 15, 2021 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

Number four of six from the Kerry County side on the descent Healy Pass, R574. Here I turn the camera on the Manfrotto studio tripod with hydrostatic ball head to the original view, a little less lit with a better leveling of the horizon.

A first glance, the rhododendrons in bloom are beautiful along the hedgerows and the foreground. Click me for our first encounter with this flowering plant. Later, during out stay at Ashford Castle, County Mayo, during kayaking on Lough Corrib, I remembered this scene and described it to my guide. He filled me in the rhododendron is a notorious invasive species. Click me for an interesting article with all the details.

Here is story of visitors LOST in a rhododendron forest.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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Annie Moore and her brothers

A statue of Annie Moore and her brothers quayside, Cóbh, County Cork, The Republic of Ireland

March 15, 2021September 7, 2024 MichaelStephenWills23 Comments

Click the photograph for my online gallery.

Annie, Anthony and Phillip Moore Statue, Cóbh– CLICK ME!!!!

On May 29, 2014, Pam and I had the emotionally moving experience of visiting the Cóbh Heritage Centre. This statue stands outside the centre, on the quay from which thousands of Irish emigrated from what was then Queenstown. My father’s mother, Elizabeth Wills née Duffy, departed from here on April 28, 1898.

These are the words on the plaque:

‘Annie Moore and her brothers, Anthony and Phillip, embarked from this town on December 20, 1891, on the S.S. Nevada. Annie was the first person to be admitted to the United States of America through the new immigration center at Ellis Island, New York, on January 1, 1892. This sculpture was unveiled by the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, on February 9, 1993. It was erected by Cóbh Heritage Trust Ltd. and is dedicated to all who emigrated from Ireland.
This sculpture won the Zeneca Ireland Ltd. Commemorative Sculpture Award. A statue of Annie Moore was also erected at Ellis Island, New York. The commemoration of Annie Moore at New York and at Cóbh was initiated by the Irish American Cultural Institute. This sculpture is the work of Jeanne Rynhart of Bantry.'”

Click to visit the previous post in this series, “The Old Aghameen School.”

Coolcreen View Three

Coolcreen Townland

March 14, 2021March 12, 2021 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Number three of six from the Kerry County side on the descent Healy Pass, R574. I turned the camera a few more degrees into the gathering darkness, under the cloud, for an almost complete view of Glanmore Lake.

It is possible to just make out several lake houses. Click me for more information about who live here during the early twentieth century.

Click me to learn more about the name of the lake.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

You can easily view a higher resolution versions by clicking on the photograph to open a browser tab.

Click photograph for a larger version.

Coolcreen View Two

Coolcreen Townland

March 13, 2021March 12, 2021 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

Number two of six from the Kerry County side on the descent Healy Pass, R574. The dynamic range is a photographic challenge: the scene darkens as a cloud covers the westering sun, I turn the camera toward Glanmore Lake. The large, distant water is a bay on the North Atlantic named for the city at the foot, Kenmare.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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Coolcreen View One

Coolcreen Townland

March 12, 2021March 11, 2021 MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

Number one of six from the Kerry County side on the Healy Pass, R574, descent. You can see the turnout we are using on the road below in this photograph Kerry View Seven. We have not travelled far, still in Coolcreen townland.

Here is a story collected by Shelia Sheahan from Mrs. M. Sheahan of Beal Middle, County Kerry. “The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0621, Page 413” by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

There is a fort in Beale and it is supposed to be the principal resort of the fairies. One day as two men were drawing hay from Slios near Caill na calman, one went through the fields as it was shorter than to go by the road, and his brother drove the horse by the road to Slios. As he was passing this fort, a little boy came out of it and ran after the car and sat into it. When they were gone a short distance he offered the man some sweets but he refuse to take any. None of them spoke anymore until they arrived in Slios. Again the little boy offer the sheets to the second man who went through the fields. But his brother went behind the little boy’s back and grinned at the other man not to take the sweets, because he was about to take them. At this the little boy went into the fort and they saw him no more. Background: a fort, or rath, is a grassy, round mound. By emerging from the rath, the boy is identified as one of the Others (“fairies”). Accepting and consuming a foodstuff or beverage from the Others puts a human under their control. The second man did not know where the boy came from and was warned away by his companion, otherwise the story would be much longer.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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Kerry View Seven

Coolcreen Townland

March 7, 2021March 10, 2021 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Number seven of seven from the Kerry County side near the top of Healy Pass, R574. Here is a brother to Number Six, being an improvement: the horizon is corrected. Can you make out the two sheep on the road?

Here is a story of the Caha Mountains, collected 1939. It was collected from a man living on the opposite side of Kenmare Bay, the water of the Atlantic Ocean glimpsed in the distance. “The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0621, Page 413” by Dúchas © National Folklore Collection, UCD is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Long ago a big worm was crossing the Caha Mountains when Saint Patrick met it. He made the Sign of the Cross over the worm and the worm was cut in two halves. One half fell at each side of the mountain. The worm was buried where it fell and it can be seen yet where it was buried in Coomnapeiste. This is a hollow on the side of one of the hills of the Caha Mountains and is visible from Blackwater Bridge National School playground. Situate opposite Lackeen other side of Kenmare Bay probably Tuosist Parish.

Beara Peninsula, Coolcreen townland, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

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