History

Historic Fabric melded with Traditional Mortar at the Irish Hunger Memorial in New York City

Blocks from the World Trade Center Memorial and the construction site of the new World Trade Center sits a half acre patch grass dedicated to raising awareness of the Great Irish Famine. This memorial was under construction on September 11, 2001 when the Twin Towers fell. The memorial was saved that day, simply because of the direction the wind was blowing. The plume of dust blew from 1 World Trade Center in just a way that it didnā€™t touch a single stone, all of which were donated from each county throughout Ireland. Even a 19th century cottage was disassembled in the County of Mayo and re-laid in Manhattan using a lime mortar that was determined to most closely match that of the original. The memorial was dedicated in 2002 by former New York mayor Ed Koch.

A team from LimeWorks.us recently visited the site and put together a collection of images seen below. The names carved in the stones represent the counties of Ireland. St. Astier Natural Hydraulic Lime was used throughout the memorial walls and cottage, supplied by LimeWorks.us. The structure has been holding up very well and we are very proud to have been part of this important piece of built heritage.

All photos Copyright Sean K Maxwell

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