Here is a snapshot I took when I was there:
Newgrange is located in County Meath, Ireland in the Boyne Valley. They believe it was built by Stone Age farmers c. 3200 BC, and is a Stone Age "passage tomb."
On the Winter Solstice, the light of the rising sun enters the roofbox at Newgrange and shines down the passageway and onto the floor of the inner chamber for about 17 minutes.
The Newgrange tour takes you down into the innermost chamber of the tomb. You want to do this tour.
Newgrange is simply a remarkable structure. It is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza, and made of huge boulders that are not native to the area. No one knows exactly how the ancient farmers moved the stones to this location. It is just a marvel to see. Amazing.
But that is not really what I want to talk about today.
Today I want to tell you about my emotional reaction when I found myself in this lovely countryside. At one point I remember looking around and breathing the fresh air and thinking to myself, "This is just like home (meaning the hill country of South Carolina on the North Carolina line)."
That is when I literally broke down and cried. I couldn't help myself. The weight of what I was witnessing hit me square in the heart.
My ancestors moved to America and settled the country around Whitaker's Mountain, Crowder's Mountain, King's Mountain, McKown's Mountain, etc. back home because they were homesick. My Irish ancestors had been forced out of Ireland for whatever reason (famine, religion, etc.), but they missed the rolling hills, the smell of good earth, the cool breeze of their Irish home. When they found the rolling Carolina hill country, they felt at home...or as close to home as their new country would allow.
My heart went out to them. All those souls standing behind me with all their stories unwritten, untold and unremembered. I felt them that day. Their spirit still lives in those hills of County Meath, and I cried for them.
I hope they know that at least one of their offspring returned to their home and understood what they had lost. May God bless each of those whose lives led to mine. May God bless and keep them forevermore.
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