Irish history on Long Island

The next meeting of the Irish Cultural Society brings one of the region's top historians to the stage of the Garden City Public Library. The meeting will be held at the Garden City Public Library, 60 Seventh Street, across the street from the Garden City Hotel, on Wednesday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting is free and open to the public.

It is too true that we are often unaware of the history right under our own feet. How many of us are unaware of a mass grave, including many Irish immigrants, in nearby Lynbrook? The tragedy of the wrecks of the vessels the Bristol and the Mexico is the subject of our guest speaker's talk at this meeting. Arthur Matson's topic is "A Landmark Event in Irish American History: The Wrecks of the Bristol and the Mexico." Mr. Matson has written a book, Water and Ice, about the tragic wrecks in 1837 which claimed the lives of 215 passengers, most of them Irish immigrants.

Art Matson is the Village Historian of the Village of Lynbrook. He holds an annual ceremony with the AOH at the Rockville Cemetery to honor the lost souls of this avoidable tragedy. Mr. Matson will make a dramatic subject even more compelling with a PowerPoint presentation.

Society president Clare Curtin will invite the audience to march with the Society on Sunday, March 5 at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Mineola. Marchers will assemble at noon behind the courts near the intersection of County Courthouse Road and Old Country Road to march north on Mineola Boulevard to Jericho Turnpike. She will suggest that marchers dress warmly for this earliest of St. Patrick Day parades.