Irish Heritage Trail

Formed in 2000, the Boston Irish Tourism Association promotes the Irish-American community year round to the travel and tourism industry. We work closely with the state's grass roots organizations and mainstream cultural institutions to showcase the state's culture, history and heritage.

Our goal is to make it easy for visitors and local residents to easily get immersed in the state's wonderful range of cultural activities, and to take advantage of the hospitality amenities available to travelers.

The Boston Irish Tourism Association encourages teachers and students to learn more about Irish-American history and heritage in Massachusetts.

We also can make available a list of feature articles on the Irish Heritage Trail that have been published in newspapers and magazines that can be duplicated and distributed to your student or study group. For details contact irishmassachusetts@comcast.net.

Recommended Books Pertaining to the Irish Heritage Trail

Beatty, Jack, The Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley (1874-1958), Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1992
Coffey, Michael and Terry Golway, The Irish in America, New York: Hyperion, 1997
Cullen, James B., The Irish in Boston, Boston: James B. Cullen and Company, 1889
Deutsch, Sarah, Women and the City: Gender, Space and Power in Boston 1870-1940 Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000
Ford, Henry Jones, The Scotch-Irish in America, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1915
Kennedy, John F., A Nation of Immigrants, New York: Harper and Row, 1964
Kenny, Kevin, The American Irish, London, Longman, 2000
Lee, Henry, Massachusetts Help to Ireland During Famine, Milton: Captain Robert B. Forbes House, 1967
Leyburn, James G., The Scotch Irish: A Social History, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1962
McNamara, Daniel, Samito, Christian, editor, The History of the Ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, New York: Fordham University Press, 2000
O'Brien, Michael J., The Irish at Bunker Hill, New York: Devin-Adair Company, 1968
O'Brien, Michael J., A Hidden Phase of American History: Ireland's Part in America's Struggle for Liberty, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc.,1973
O'Connor, Thomas H., The Boston Irish: A Political History, Northeastern University Press, 1995
O'Connor, Thomas H., Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield, Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997
Quinlin, Michael P., Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past, Guilford: Globe Pequot Press, 2004
Riley, Arthur J., Catholicism in New England to 1788, Washington: Catholic University of America, 1936
Roche, James Jeffrey, John Boyle O'Reilly: Life, Poems and Speeches, New York: Cassell Publishing Company, 1891
Ryan, Dennis, Beyond the Ballot Box: A Social History of the Boston Irish, 1845-1917, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1983
Samito, Christian, editor, Commanding Boston's Irish Ninth: The Letters of Colonel Patrick R. Guiney, New York: Fordham University Press, 1997
Schultz, Nancy, Fire and Roses: The Burning of Charlestown Convent, 1834, New York: The Free Press, 2000