Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Georgia Southern students to bring Savannah to Ireland in new Dunbrody Center exhibit
Visitors to the Dunbrody Emigrant Experience Center, a world-class visitor center in the historic river port of New Ross County, Wexford, Ireland, will soon be able to experience a taste of Savannah, thanks to several Georgia Southern University students.
The students conducted primary-source research at archives in Savannah and in Ireland, and a permanent exhibition based on their discoveries is now being developed for the Dunbrody Center. The facility’s principal attraction is a full-scale reproduction of a three-mast, transatlantic sailing ship, the Dunbrody, which operated out of New Ross between 1845 and 1869.
The students determined that the Dunbrody’s first ever commercial voyage was to Savannah, seeking Georgia timber and that following voyages brought immigrants from southeastern Ireland to the Hostess City.
Seán Connick, director of the Dunbrody Emigrant Experience Center, is thrilled with the detailed work conducted and curated by the student-researchers from Georgia Southern. While over here Howard Keeley, Ph.D., director of Georgia Southern’s Center for Irish Research and Teaching (C.I.R.T.), says the new student research will bring tourism, economic development and further bridge a gap between Savannah and Ireland.
