Sail to Cove

Asenath Nicholson

Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger

1847

Chapter XIV (7) | Start of Chapter

Thursday.—Took a lunch with a lady who had expressed a desire to see me; and this desire resulted in happy consequences to me, ever after while in Cork. After a pleasant interview, she made an appointment to visit Blarney on Saturday. I went out, and took the steam packet for Cove. The prospect up the river was beautiful, giving the view of Black Rock, and the convent, Monkton, and its tasteful cottages and pleasure grounds. Stepping ashore, I made my way alone up the hill, to the highest look-out upon the beautiful bay of Cove, and realized all that had been told me in America by every visitor as well as by Irishmen, "that the Cove of Cork is not surpassed in beauty by any bay on our globe." Its islands and extensive reach, with its green shores, even in winter, looked like blooming lawns and summer shades, inviting the saunterer to bowers of repose; and to every lover of scenery allow me to say, "Visit the Cove of Cork, should you ever take the tour of Ireland."

Ireland’s Welome to the Stranger is one of the best accounts of Irish social conditions, customs, quirks and habits that you could wish for. The author, Mrs Asenath Nicholson, was an American widow who travelled extensively in Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine and meticulously observed the Irish peasantry at work and play, as well as noting their living conditions and diet. The book is also available from Kindle.

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An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

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