It's a long way to Tobercurry

Actually, it took only about two and a half hours to drive from Derry to Tobercurry (aka Tubbercurry), County Sligo.

On Saturday, August 2, we had a nice breakfast with our Dear Niece #2 and Dear Friend, and then headed out of town--and out of the country of United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) into the Republic of Ireland, only a few miles away. Almost as soon as we crossed the border, the car's screen registered the new country:

We were going to Tobercurry in an attempt to find signs of Matt's O'Malia ancestors. Specifically, his maternal great-great-grandfather Austin O'Malia was born there in 1814 (d. 1887).

We made it to Tobercurry at about lunchtime on a Saturday. It turns out that not much is open in these small towns (even with a population of just under 2,000) on the weekends, and if they are open, they tend to keep limited hours. We were able to grab a traditional lunch at Murphy's Hotel. Here's the lunch:

Here's Murphy's:

Tobercurry is yet another Tidy Town. It was founded in 1397 and is "twinned" with Viarmes, France:

Here is the main drag:

Nowadays, Tobercurry is in the Tubbercurry parish of the Diocese of Achonry. However, the Catholic church in town (Church of St. John, Evangelist) was built in 1933. The next closest Catholic church, St. Michael's Church in Cloonacool, was built in about 1853. So we don't know which church Austin O'Malia or his family may have attended.

There was a Workhouse in Tobercurry. We visited the Famine Burial Ground (on the site of the Workhouse), which does not contain individual headstones or any indication of who is buried there. This stone reads, "1845 - 1847 Tubbercurry Union Workhouse Burial Ground":

This stone reads, "In Memory of all who were buried here during the famine / Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord / Erected by Killoran Clan 1996":

We also visited the Rhue Cemetery. It turns out we probably should have visited the Ballyara Cemetery as well--except that we have been discovering that the oldest headstones are so worn that they are usually impossible to read. We also found out later in the trip that the name "O'Malia" was often spoken/written as "O'Malley"--we remember seeing at least one headstone with that name, so perhaps that was a relative of Matt's, but it was too new to have been an ancestor.

All the cemeteries we've seen have been lovely and peaceful; Rhue is no exception: