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The most Irish town in America is named

It’s in Massachusetts to no one’s surprise

MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 8:00 AM

Updated Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 12:47 PM

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Scituate lighthouse, MA - the most Irish town in the US

Scituate, a pleasant seaside town thirty miles from Boston, is the most Irish town in the United States according to the U.S census.

All in all 16 communities within the South Shore neighborhoods of Boston have the highest percentage of people of Irish descent in the United States.

Top of the list is Scituate, where almost 50 percent of residents are of Irish descent. At least 44 percent of the population in Braintree, Hull, Marshfield, Avon, Pembroke, and Milton claim Irish ancestry also according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Scituate, on Cape Cod bay, is also close to Plymouth Rock where the Mayflower arrived. It has a population of a little over 17,000

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The data shows that the South Shore's "Irish Riviera" hasn't significantly changed since the last census in 1990.

Irish Americans continue to dominate the large majority of suburban Boston.

According to the 2005-2009 American Community Survey, 19 of the top-20 most Irish communities in Massachusetts are south of Boston.

A decade ago there were similar results. These same towns were among the top Irish-American communities in the state of Massachusetts, according to the 2000 census.

Richard Finnegan, professor of political science and director of Irish studies at Stonehill College maintains that the South Shore has long been home to a large Irish community.

The migration of Irish families from Boston to the South Shore, dates back to the end of World War II, and continued through the 1950s and 60s.

Professor Finnegan says that many gravitated towards the South Shore because of geography.

"If you live in Dorchester or Hyde Park, you don’t think of moving to Swampscott,’’ he said. “Where will I move if I can get ahead and move up the social ladder? Quincy, Weymouth, and down the South Shore.," he told the Boston Globe.

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He added that for many of the Irish in South Boston, Hyde Park, and Dorchester, their natural migration was to move south, because that’s where they went in the summer.

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Maggie47 | Mar 18, 2013, 11:07 PM EDT

I didn't see Little Ireland, Rockland County, NY mentioned Every other resident is either irish or irish american.

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STEVENSTAR | Mar 17, 2013, 11:06 AM EDT

HAHAHA IF THATS THE MOST IRISH TOWN IN THE US THEN THERE IS VERY LITTLE LEFT TO SAY APART FROM HAHAHA!!! KEEP DREAMING !!!

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Frosty38 | Mar 16, 2013, 09:34 PM EDT

Loretobarbados the reseson is the ENGLISH were here first the irish always was behid the pack. My grandmother came from Galway to work for PJ McGuire he was a ward boss for Mayor Curley and then she met and married one of the family and that how she stayed after. I;m from Cambridge and now it is yuppies going to Harvard or MIT and you could buy a place if you were a senior

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GloriaMia | Mar 18, 2012, 10:56 AM EDT

So proud to have spent my Jr & High School years growing up in N Weymouth, MA with the very best "kids" in the world as life long friends. They don't make em like that anymore! And who knew we were growing up in such an elite town? As I recall it, it was a very hard working, blue collar town. We kids had better be in before dark, or boy would we get it!

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ballyhip | Nov 10, 2011, 06:39 PM EST

Immaterial which is the most Irish town in American but certainly Boston's South Shore towns have to be represented. My mother worked as a domestic after immigrating and told of taking a train to Scituate and Marshfield (Brant Rock) to meet her friends on their day off. They later bought a cottage in Humarock (Marshfield) which is still in the family. As for Breeze Point being more Irish because it is "conservative", my Roscommon born father would dispute that even in an era when Ireland was still controlled from the pulpit and the socioeconomic policies of De Valera. He was a life long "liberal" Democrat who moved from the working class to management.

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occassio | Nov 09, 2011, 03:12 PM EST

Even in Ireland, Boston, MA is referred to as “the next parish over to the west”. Dorchester is part of that “parish” and has been, and is still, a town of Irish. Although, as their incomes rose, many have migrated to suburban communities, there are many others who remain and flourish. While it is true that in every decade, since about 1950, cities that received a large increase in black migrants (Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury) also lost a larger number of white residents, it also is true that many of those moves were due to increased income, while many may have stemmed from a desire to avoid living in racially diverse neighborhoods. Poverty and crime were/are a part of the social history of these areas no more or less than South Boston or any area where poverty is the gating factor. To say that “Dorchester is NOT Irish”, is glib and a jibe at many Irish who call Dorchester home. (http://irishmassachusetts.blogspot.com/2009/10/irish-heritage-festival-in-adams.html)

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Loretobarbados | Nov 09, 2011, 02:31 PM EST

And not one of those towns has a an Irish name!!!

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joycean | Nov 08, 2011, 06:42 PM EST

Scituate is not Irish in the number of people with Irish accents. Its residents are probably two or three generations removed from Ireland. My grandparents went to Scituate for a week or so in the summer in the 1920s. My generation went to Marshfield (the next town) in the 1950s and 1960s.Now my husband and I bring our children and grandchildren to the South Shore for a week or so in the summer. It is a lovely place, with rock cliffs that fall down to the ocean, much like County Kerry. John F.Kennedy's grandfather owned a home in the next town before they moved to Hyannisport.

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Ernesider | Nov 08, 2011, 11:52 AM EST

It's a beautiful place, Scituate. Was there tarring the roads with Bell and Flynn from Stratham, NH in the early 70's. God Bless the Irish and God Bless Massachusetts.

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ceceann | Nov 08, 2011, 11:25 AM EST

Agree with francisquinn. Everyone I know there is an Irish American. Do not know how this was determined. Don't remember that question on the census. If it was there I declined to answer.

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allicat4u2 | Nov 08, 2011, 11:01 AM EST

Dorchester is "NOT," Irish but one might need a militia to live there.

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pounder | Nov 08, 2011, 10:17 AM EST

One word, Woodlawn.If you have to ask why,you haven't been paying attention.

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francisquinn | Nov 08, 2011, 09:55 AM EST

I would gravitate to Breeze Point, NY (part of Queens Country) not only because of the number of Irish Americans but because it's inhabitants are politically conservative as opposed to the left leaning Mass...

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joycean | Nov 08, 2011, 09:28 AM EST

Beautiful Scituate! Congradulations!

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