Echoes of Ireland in the deep South

Denis Bergin reports on an uprising of Irish cultural activity in Charleston, where the relics of old Southern decency are still much in evidence.

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Charleston's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

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O’Sullivan’s controversial activities as land agent, surveyor and settler have long been eclipsed by his island’s role in everything from slavery – it was a reception center for human cargoes from Africa – to the more exotic episodes of the Civil War – it was a launching point for the doomed Confederate submarine experiment the CSS H. L. Hunley, recently rescued from the offshore waters to be preserved and exhibited as a major tourism attraction.

But the Corkman’s unsavory reputation has been somewhat balanced by the contribution of his fellow county native John England. The former parish priest of Bandon was appointed at the age of thirty-four as the first Catholic bishop of the Carolinas and Georgia in 1820.

Bishop John England’s contribution to the establishment of the church in what was essentially frontier territory is still evident in the institutions and foundations that honor his memory.

On one side of the city of Charleston, Bishop England High School commands an extensive footprint in the new community of Daniel Island, having moved from its downtown location in 1998. On the other side, the May Forest convent on James Island, founded by England in 1829, is motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of our Lady of Mercy and home to the last native Irish member of the order – 102-year-old Laois-born Sr. Brendan Lacey.

The significant Irish contribution to Charleston’s society and history has been mediated down through the years by organizations such as the Hibernian Society, a benevolent movement formed about 1800 to dispense aid to immigrant Irish arriving at the extensive Charleston docks.

The Society’s Hibernian Hall, completed in the early 1840s and designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, an architect of the U.S. Capitol, is a dominating presence on Meeting Street. The society’s tradition of alternating Catholic and Protestant presidents continues to the present day.

But the more modern Irish presence in the Charleston area is based on the skills and enterprise of people like Karl Byrne, a Rathangan (Co. Kildare) native who is Professor of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dubliner Jim Kirwan, a former banker, now heads up a chain of retail outlets specializing in equipment for triathlon participants. Simon Andrews, a member of the south Dublin political dynasty, is Executive Chef at the Francis Marion Hotel. Mary Margaret McLernon, an Irish-American entrepreneur, operates an art gallery, retail counter and tearoom just north of Charleston’s central Broad Street.

Mary Margaret’s simple suggestion of an event at her store to boost Irish cultural connections led to a neat five-day program in March for what it is hoped will become a regular Irish arts festival in Charleston. Her record in this area is impressive – as a resident of Dublin, Ohio, she was part of an effort that took a small Irish festival in that city from an attendance of 5,000 to more than 50,000 before it was taken over by the civic authorities and further boosted to its present mark of almost 100,000.

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