At its highest point, reaching roughly 25 feet above street level, the western end of the Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park offers a stunning panorama that consists of the Statue of Liberty to the south, Ellis Island almost straight ahead, as well as a sweeping view of Jersey City, New Jersey, which is directly across the Upper New York Bay. Dozens of different plants native to the western portion of the Emerald Isle are prevalent throughout the memorial, along with stones that have the names of all 32 counties inscribed in them.
Genuine Cottage Integral Part of Irish Hunger Memorial
To accentuate the plight of the Irish during those agonizing times, a bona fide roofless stone shanty was shipped over from County Mayo. The cottage was in a state of considerable deterioration, and has come to represent the persistent struggles of those who lived back in the day. It is also the monument's centerpiece. Upon entering the landmark, you traverse through a tunnel that leads to the cottage, eventually transitioning into the capacious garden area.
Completely encircling the memorial on its external facade, are thousands of Irish proverbs, poems, and mind-blowing statistics pertaining to the famine period. A staggering one and one-half million people died as a result of the crippling famine that so enveloped Ireland in the mid-19th century. Their primary food source at the time, potatoes, became infested and effectively wiped out the entire crop. Even more people would have succumbed to the famine if not for an aggressive emigration policy that eventually sent hundreds of thousands of Irish to the United States, specifically to New York City.
Memorial's Half-Acre Size Very Symbolic
An even more curious aspect of the memorial is its size. In its entirety, it encompasses half of an acre of prime New York City real estate. To avoid the loss of precious government aid back in the day, landlords, or public officials, deliberately divvied up their parcels of land so that the total land allotment did not exceed a half-acre. If the total size exceeded a half-acre, so went the desperately-needed aid.
Modeled after a similar program in England, the Irish Board of Guardians ordered the construction of workhouses that were financed by a local property tax and which afforded the exponentially growing number of poor a pittance and overcrowded place to stay. However, landlords were motivated to fill their workhouses to beyond capacity due to a stipulation that essentially promised they - the landlords - would receive additional aid if they accepted increasing amounts of able-bodied persons. Furthermore, workhouses "welcomed" those who were infected or unable to work, under a provision that also permitted landlords to provide outdoor relief.
Over time, landlords were forced to evict less physically-capable persons because it would have meant having to expand their land holding beyond the half-acre allotment, and hence, a loss of government relief. Those who were discharged had to fend for themselves, with many of them ultimately submitting to disease and/or starvation. There would have been many more deaths if not for the massive migration - in the hundreds of thousands - to both Canada and the United States.
We Took In The Irish Poor And Hungry
Basically, it was cheaper for the government to ship off the most destitute and diseased to a foreign land than to try to care for them at home. As it came to be, the fewer peasants there were to provide a modicum of care for, the lower the overall tax bill. The masses that arrived in lower Manhattan back then had very little money, no job prospects, and were universally vilified by the natives. The ensuing socioeconomic chaos produced memorable cultural phenomenon like the discriminatory acronym "N.I.N.A," or No Irish Need Apply, and which were depicted in works such as the film Gangs of New York.
The Irish Hunger Memorial is a tribute to all who those who suffered, whether in Ireland, New York City, or both. It is a place of solace and an anachronism considering its immediate and much more modern-looking surroundings. For the whole time that we spent there, I could not get over how quiet it seemed. Occupy Wall Street protests were raging only a few blocks away and feverish work was being done at Ground Zero. Yet those sounds seemed to dissipate the moment we entered the memorial.
Admission to the memorial is free and is open year round.
Sources
(2011). Irish Hunger Memorial in Manhattan.
Crossman, V. (2008). The Poor Law in Ireland, 1838-1948.
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