From Ireland to America - The Kennedy Homestead

On my last day in Ireland, before taking an early flight out of Dublin, fellow Wild Geese member and Irish-American Wexford farmer Oisin O'Connell offered to complete my Irish Tour by taking me to experience New Ross. As usual, I had no idea of where I was going until I got there and the only preparation I had was my charged phone with lots of storage as it was also my video and photo cam -- this was the quintessential no-frills journalistic tour.

Our first stop was the new multimedia visitor center at the Kennedy Homestead in Dunganstown, and we were both amazed at how much emotion this exhibit evoked in both of us. At one point, deep in thought and emotion, I found that I had missed what our tour guide was saying to me -- until I heard the words "... when John met my Grandmother," or words like it. I then realized I was talking to Patrick Grennan, Mary Ryan's grandson. It was Patrick's determination, through all these years, to keep the homestead, which is also his home, open to visitors. All I can say is I can now testify to the vaunted 'Kennedy charm' first hand. ... I believe something in their DNA really is 'magical'.

Here is a short video of Oisin during his own Kennedy 'moment