Hi everyone,

Here in the USA, Memorial Day weekend, at the end of May, is the unofficial start of summer. Soon many tourists and summer residents will arrive to open their summer homes to enjoy the beautiful New England summertime. Many of our readers do not realize that we are located in the United States, not in Ireland, so I will tell you about our area now.

LittleShamrocks.com is located in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, in the west central area of New Hampshire, in New England, about 100 miles north of Boston. Dartmouth College, which includes one of the country's premier teaching hospitals,

Eleazer Wheelock Founding Dartmouth College in the Forests of New Hampshire, 1770 Giclee Print

The Ivy League schools are private institutions of higher education and are all located in the northeastern United States. The term Ivy League also refers to these schools as having academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism. Seven of the eight schools were founded during our country's colonial era and were chartered before the American Revolution; Dartmouth College being chartered in 1769.

The Lake Sunapee region is comprised of several towns which border Lake Sunapee, the town of Sunapee, and the town of Newport, which is our town. Sunapee is derived from the local Native American Abenaki word 'Soo-Nipi', which means 'waters of the wild goose'. Lake Sunapee is the largest of the area lakes, which measures ten miles long and three miles wide.

Eleazer Wheelock Founding Dartmouth College in the Forests of New Hampshire, 1770 Giclee Print

Lake Sunapee Lighthouse Illustration by John "Babe" Sargent

The area is somewhat seasonal, as we have many tourists enjoying the lakes in the summer and the mountains in the winter. We have several activities in the summertime such as boating, water-skiing, skin-diving, fishing, hiking, camping and swimming in our clean, pristine lakes. The area also has many antique shops, flea markets and farmers' markets. In the wintertime, the area offers skiing, both downhill and cross-country, sledding, snowmobiling and ice fishing. If you would like to learn more about our area, please have a look at another of our web sites, Lake-Sunapee-Living.com.


As I was searching the web to see if there was a holiday similar to Memorial Day in Ireland, I discovered that they had observed the first annual National Famine Memorial Day on May 17, 2009. Although Irish communities have held memorial observances in the past, this is now a national holiday. In May of 2008, it was announced that the government had agreed to commemorate the Great Famine with an annual memorial day, and the National Famine Commemoration Committee was established to decide on the most appropriate arrangements for the observance. Each year, the observance will be held at a location in one of the provinces, in turn, beginning with Munster in 2009, in Connacht in 2010, and in Ulster in 2011. I have marked my calendar for the observance on May 17, 2010 and I invite you to join me for a moment of silence.

I also learned that Canada observes a similar day of remembrance, which is held at the Irish Famine Memorial located at the former quarantine station on the island of Grosse-Île. Over 250,000 Irish famine immigrants were quarantined here before they were allowed into the country due to the fact that many of them were suffering from cholera or typhus. There are 6,000 of the famine Irish buried at the site, and the monument was erected in 1997, on the 150th anniversary of the most devastating year of the famine, 1847. The monument was officially opened in 1998 and the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, attended the ceremony.

Now that June is here, we are going to be celebrating graduations and the beginning of the wedding season, along with Father's Day on June 21st. On our home page, we are featuring the Traditional Irish Wedding Cake that I made last summer. We are also featuring items from our Barbecue Recipes Page, which would be perfect to serve to Dad on Father's Day and for Independence Day celebrations on the 4th of July. Remember that you can purchase party supplies for any occasion at our affiliate ShinDigz.com.

I hope that all of your June celebrations will go splendidly, as well as your 4th of July. I want to thank you all for your continued interest in LittleShamrocks.com. Until next time ...

Sláinte,
Tyna