By Michael Quinlan
Revolutionary Irish Trail
With America 250 celebrations underway in 2026, Boston is creating a Revolutionary Irish Trail to chronicle Irish and Scots-Irish heroics in the American Revolution. The Boston Irish Tourism Association is publishing a 48 page booklet of the Revolutionary Irish Trail and a web page with an interactive map of the iconic sites.
Public landmarks on the Trail include the Boston Common plaque to Commodore John Barry, Father of the American Navy, and the nearby Granary Burying Ground, where Boston Massacre victim and Irishman Patrick Carr is buried, along with founders of the Charitable Irish Society and Governor James Sullivan.
Colonial artist John Singleton Copley, son of Irish immigrants, has a bronze statue in Copley Square, Back Bay, and his portraits of John Hanock and Paul Revere are displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts. The JFK Library, Boston Public Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, State House and Bunker Hill Monument are also on the trail, as well as sites in Cambridge, Lexington and Concord.
American Ancestors, Boston’s non-profit national center for family history, is highlighted for its extensive genealogical records. The state of New Hampshire is also featured, with landmarks on Dr. Matthew Thornton, who signed the Declaration of Independence, plus military leaders such as John Sullivan and John Stark, whose Irish and Scots-Irish regiments fought valiantly in the American Revolution.
This winter, historians in New York and Massachusetts are celebrating Boston bookseller Henry Knox, a son of Ulster immigrants and America’s first Secretary of War. The 26-year-old Knox and his men dragged 59 cannons 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga, NY to Boston’s Dorchester Heights in winter 1776, forcing British ships to flee Boston Harbor on March 17,1776 and thereby ending the Siege of Boston.
To mark the 250th anniversary of that victory, known locally as Evacuation Day, South Boston Congressman Stephen Lynch, State Senator Nick Collins and City Councilor Ed Flynn are joining Boston National Historic Park, South Boston Citizens Association and Revolution 250 Boston to unveil the newly restored Dorchester Heights Memorial on March 17, 2026.
Beth Sweeney, Trad Music Maven
Beth Sweeney, popular curator of the Irish Music Archives at Boston College’s John J. Burns Library, retired this fall after a distinguished career of nearly 37 years. For 25 of those years, she curated the library’s Irish Music Archives, helping to make it one of the world’s finest collections of traditional Irish music.
The Irish Music Archives include materials donated by musicians such as fiddle champion Séamus Connolly, singer Mary O’Hara and others; organizational records of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in North America; and recordings of the school’s famous Gaelic Roots Festival from 1993 to 2003. A flagship of the archives is the Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music, a freely-available online collection of 330 audio recordings, with stories, transcriptions and essays.
A fine musician herself, Beth played keyboard at Irish music events on campus and generously shared her knowledge with the Boston College community. Beth and her husband, musician Billy Hardy, are active in Celtic and American Roots music on Cape Cod, specializing in fiddle, piano, guitar, banjo and songs.
Declan Crowley, Cultural Champ
Congratulations to champion Irish dancer Declan Crowley, recently promoted to cultural programming director at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton, where he oversees live performances, seasonal celebrations, year-round dance workshops and educational classes.
A graduate of Holy Cross College in Worcester, Declan is originally from Burnt Hills, NY. He won numerous regional, national and All-Ireland titles and toured the world as principal dancer in Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance.” His time on the road gave him extensive connections to the world’s finest dancers, singers, musicians and cultural leaders, and he is now bringing them to the Centre.
Declan credits his parents, grandparents and extended family for his success in the competitive dance world, and now he plans to pay that forward to new generations of families who want their children to learn about their Irish heritage in all its variations.
“It’s an all-in commitment,” Crowley says about his new role, and “a lifetime honor to collaborate with those who have protected the mission of the Irish Cultural Centre for so long.” irishculture.org
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