Kindred Spirits is a large stainless steel outdoor sculpture in Bailick Park in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. [1] [2]
Created by artist Alex Pentek, Kindred Spirits commemorates the 1847 donation by the Native American Choctaw people to Irish famine relief during the Great Hunger, despite the Choctaw themselves living in hardship and poverty and having recently endured the Trail of Tears. [2] [3] [4] While records of the exact amount of the donation vary, the figure usually given is US$ 170 [5] (about $5,600 in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars, though some methods indicate it could have been as high as $20,000 in 2015 dollars). [note 1] In the U.S. coinage of the time, U.S.$170 meant 8.22 troy ounces of physical gold, or about US$14,000 in 2020 prices.[ citation needed ]
The sculpture consists of nine 20-foot (6.1 m) stainless steel eagle feathers arranged in a circle, no two feathers being identical, forming a bowl shape to represent a gift of a bowl of food. [7] [8] [9] With over 20,000 welds and taking a year to make, it was created by Alex Pentek at the Sculpture Factory in Cork, Ireland, with assistance to polish the finished work from students of the Crawford College of Art and Design, and installed in Bailick Park in 2015. [5] [1] [10] [2] [11] [12] [9] The memorial was commissioned by Midleton Town Council, [13] [14] and was officially unveiled and dedicated in June 2017 by Chief Gary Batton, Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Assistant Chief Jack Austin Jr., and Councillor Seamus McGrath, County Mayor of Cork, accompanied by a 20-strong delegation from the Choctaw Nation. [15] [16] [9] [14] [17]
A companion sculpture, Eternal Heart, was unveiled in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma in 2024 to further commemorate Choctaw-Irish relations. [18]
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Mississippi and Alabama. The Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are enrolled in four federally recognized tribes: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Jena Band of Choctaw Indians in Louisiana, and the Yowani Choctaws enrolled under the confederacy of the Caddo Nation.
The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and subsequently had a major impact on Irish society and history as a whole. The most severely affected areas were in the western and southern parts of Ireland—where the Irish language was dominant—and hence the period was contemporaneously known in Irish as an Drochshaol, which literally translates to "the bad life" and loosely translates to "the hard times". The worst year of the famine was 1847, which became known as "Black '47". The population of Ireland on the eve of the famine was about 8.5 million, by 1901 it was just 4.4 million. During the Great Hunger, roughly 1 million people died and more than 1 million more fled the country, causing the country's population to fall by 20–25% between 1841 and 1871. Between 1845 and 1855, at least 2.1 million people left Ireland, primarily on packet ships but also on steamboats and barques—one of the greatest exoduses from a single island in history.
Irish whiskey is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' comes from the Irish uisce beatha, meaning water of life. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery, were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.
Skibbereen is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located in a tourist area, Tragumna beach is nearby.
Midleton is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satellite town of Cork City, Midleton is part of Metropolitan Cork. It is the central hub of business for the East Cork Area. Midleton is within the Cork East Dáil constituency.
Carrigtwohill, officially Carrigtohill, is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of 5,568 (2022). It is 12 kilometres east of Cork city centre. It is connected to Cork Suburban Rail and is bypassed by the N25 road. Carrigtwohill is one of the fastest-growing towns in the region, and a hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Carrigtwohill is part of the Cork East Dáil constituency.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a Native American reservation occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. At roughly 6,952,960 acres, it is the second-largest reservation in area after the Navajo, exceeding that of eight U.S. states. The seat of government is located in Durant, Oklahoma.
Jameson is a blended Irish whiskey produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Originally one of the six main Dublin whiskeys at the Jameson Distillery Bow St., Jameson is now distilled at the New Midleton Distillery in County Cork. It is by far the best-selling Irish whiskey in the world; in 2019, annual sales passed 8 million cases. It has been sold internationally since the early 19th century, and is available to buy in over 130 countries.
New Midleton Distillery is situated in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. Established in 1975 and owned by Irish Distillers, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Located alongside is the Old Midleton Distillery, which was established in the early 17th century and now operates as a visitor centre known as the Jameson Experience.
Midleton Very Rare is a premium Irish whiskey, produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard at the New Midleton Distillery, in the East Cork town of Midleton, from which it gets its name. A non-age statement whiskey, containing a mix of pot still and grain whiskeys, it is matured for about twelve to twenty years in ex-bourbon American Oak barrels. One of the most expensive whiskeys regularly produced by Irish Distillers, since its launch in 1984, Midleton Very Rare has frequently been the recipient of strong reviews and awards.
Events from the year 1847 in Ireland.
Patrick FitzGerald is an Irish former hurler and manager. At club level he played with Midleton and Imokilly and was also a member of the Cork senior hurling team. His son, Ger FitzGerald, also played with Midleton and Cork.
Kindred Spirit(s) may refer to:
Conor Lehane is an Irish hurler who currently plays as a centre-forward for the Cork senior team.
Jerry Wallace is a former Irish hurler and former manager of the Antrim senior hurling team.
The Jameson Experience, Midleton, is an Irish whiskey museum and visitor centre located in the Old Midleton Distillery in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. Set over 15 acres, since opening as a visitor's centre in 1992, the old distillery has received approximately 100,000 guests per year, receiving 125,000 in 2015.
Gary Dale Batton is a tribal administrator and politician, the current and 47th Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. It is the third-largest federally recognized tribe and second-largest reservation in total area.
Tim Tingle is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma an author and storyteller of twenty books.
Native American nations, Irish immigrants to the United States, and residents of Ireland have a history of often-supportive interactions dating back to the start of the Great Famine. Across multiple generations, people from both communities have drawn attention to their parallel histories of colonization by English-speaking countries. Scholarship on, and press attention to, these interactions has highlighted both acts of solidarity and the participation of some Irish immigrants in the invasion and dispossession of Native Americans.