County Galway Historical Heritage & Diaspora
County Galway embodies the wild and romantic spirit of Ireland’s western province of Connacht. From the boggy peaks of Connemara and the limestone slabs of the Aran Islands to the bustling cobblestone streets of Galway City (“The City of the Tribes”), Galway is a bastion of Gaelic speech, song, and culture.
The county gave the world the iconic Claddagh Ring, symbol of Love, Loyalty, and Friendship (hands holding a crowned heart). During the Great Hunger, Galway suffered immense starvation and forced evictions, immortalized in the haunting ballad The Fields of Athenry.
Galway immigrants built one of the tightest migration corridors in diaspora history into Boston, Massachusetts. So dense was the Galway presence in Dorchester and South Boston that neighborhoods retained Galway regional dialects well into the mid-twentieth century. In the American South, Galway merchants and laborers established the historic Irish community of Savannah, Georgia.
Major Galway surnames include Kelly, Burke, Flaherty, Joyce, Fahy, Hynes, Connolly, and Conneely.