Home on the Island

Overview

In 1851, over one hundred and fifty residents of Arainn Mhor Island, off the coast of Donegal, were evicted from their homes. Speaking only Gaelic, they stayed together as a group upon arrival in the new world, and worked on the railroads in Canada. After a time, they found their way to Beaver Island, in the middle of Lake Michigan, where they established a new community, a miniature Arainn Mhor in exile. Home on the Island tells the story of the evictees and their journey to Beaver Island but, more importantly, it endeavoured to describe the character of the two communities who share the same ancestry, but are separated by the Atlantic Ocean.