Flora of Ireland

I emerged from the other side of that sheltered, shadowy cottage and into the light. I walked along the upwards path, among the various types of shrubbery and stones. I began to feel connected to this landscape, so much so that I could no longer classify this memorial as a simulation. The authenticity of this countryside, like the cottage, provided such a high degree of realism that I, along with many visitors, found myself forgetting that I am still in Manhattan. There are 62 indigenous plants incorporated within this scene to reflect the native land, while the stones that lined the pathway are originally from each of Ireland’s 32 counties.          

The silence that hung in the air throughout the walk among this fragment of Ireland brought about a similar response within me as the cottage did, yet now on a larger scale. I thought of the mass population that left their land behind them. I felt certain that the breathtaking silence in the atmosphere was truly what the land must have felt and looked like after the chaos had ensued. I felt like a fly on the wall. I was a tiny, helpless observer trying to bear the weight of this tremendous history. There is a great effectiveness of letting the visitor meander along this pure landscape, without the forced placement of signs and plaques along the way. The designer’s decision to instead include an optional, downloadable app with audio demonstrates their values of leaving the landscape in its beauty, perhaps knowing the visitors will indeed be able to, on some level, make sense of this tragedy through what was left behind.

Suddenly, I reached the top of the trail. I was twenty-five feet above the ground, looking over the Hudson River. As I looked out toward the water, I watched as the ships passed by, and the weight of questions and concerns that had been building up within me began to fade. Perhaps this relief was inherent in the memorial’s upwards design. A sentimental feeling came over me as I thought of the immigrants traveling on those very waters. They were entering into a new, unknown new city with the hopes of survival still in their hearts. Among the flora of this countryside, I felt the extraordinary collision of the past and present, homeland and foreign lands, starvation and survival.