Blacksod Memorial Garden

Blacksod Lighthouse sits at the very end of the Belmullet Peninsula. There is a small port here for fishing boat and even a small beach. What I didn’t know what how significant this place was back then. I found out that Blacksod Lighthouse feed weather information to the Allies which led to the postponement of the Normandy landings because of bad weather. This might have very well changed the course of history. Not only that, but Blacksod was also a major departure point of people emigrating from Ireland. There was a great famine at the time in Ireland and people had no choice but to take a chance and leave Ireland for greener pastures, in this case, it would be the United States and Canada.

Blacksod Bay was the main departure point of people from county Mayo. Numerous ships made the dangerous Altantic crossing to the unknown land of the United States and Canada. I could appreciate the difficulty of making the voyage since I can’t even stand flying across the Atlantic. These people risked everything for a better life in another land. Blacksod Bay wasn’t the only place where people emigrated from but this is probably one of the more significant places. It was probably much easier to change where you live than it is now. Now, there is a memorial garden set up to remember the people who left. Sometimes descendants of the people who left would come here for a get together. There are individual pedestals which show the ships which sailed out of Blacksod. The pedestals together form a rough boat shape. It is interesting to see the names which are on the manifest. No doubt people would be looking here to see if their ancestors made the crossing.

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