Irish Village Proposed Site Plan Announced
Concept Encompasses Elements from Three Irish Counties

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

East Durham, N.Y. (March 13, 2003) – Irish Village East Durham --New York state’s first Irish living history museum -- will be modeled after rural towns located in three counties in Ireland, a consultant told the Centre’s Board today.

Susan Hanson, Ph.D., principal of History Behind the Scenes in New York City, returned recently from a 10-day research trip in Ireland. Hanson and her team reported to the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre’s Board of Directors today on the overall site master plan concept for the village.

The concept is part of Phase Two of the development of Irish Village East Durham project. Phase One of the project, which was completed in December, established that The Irish Village East Durham, on Route 145, will recreate life in a village in the province of Munster in the 1860s.

Currently, Hanson’s team is designing the 19th Century Irish village after towns located in County Limerick, County Tipperary and northern County Cork. Areas of these counties, all of which are located in the province of Munster in southern Ireland, resemble Greene County geographically and agriculturally.

“Creating the Irish Village is like having a picture of the house of your dreams and then building it,” Hanson said earlier. “There’s a big difference between the concept and reality. Right now, we are at the concept phase.”

When complete, the Irish Village will have recreated buildings and the street plan of an 1860s country village in Munster. Interpreters, dressed in the style of the times, will go about the lives of the characters they portray, as they would have at the time. The goal is to finish the village by 2007. The $17-million project will be similar to a smaller version of Colonial Williamsburg, Va., and Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.

For Phase Two, Hanson told the Board, that her team -- which includes historic buildings expert Blake Hayes -- developed a database of detailed historical descriptions of over 100 small Munster villages, more than 30 of which they visited during their trip in February. The team concentrated on 20 villages whose location, population, profile and high state of preservation best met the needs of the Irish Village East Durham project. Besides architecture, the consultants looked into street plans, national services, and the operation and location of stores, cottages and community buildings in selected villages.

Hanson’s team spent three days in Dublin at the National Library of Ireland to learn more about the background and ways of life for people who lived in Ireland in the late 1800s. They visited the Ulster American Folk Park in Northern Ireland, and the Bunratty Folk Park in western Ireland for further ideas. Members of the team also met with architect Gerard Laverty, a long-time adviser to the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Centre, Inc., in County Donegal.

The next step -- after final approval by the Centre’s board of directors -- will be to develop a visual concept of the Irish Village and its location on the land available at the Cultural Centre on Route 145 in East Durham. A rendering of their vision of the town will be ready in May, Hanson said.

Phase Three, which begins in the summer of 2003, will include the actual design of the Irish Village site, along with its buildings and other amenities. Extensive and additional research will flesh out the storyline for the characters in the village, create the broad plans for educational and interpretive programs in the village and develop furnishing plans for the buildings, among many other things, Hanson said.

Contact:

Ken Dudley, President
Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre
518-634-2286