Page 194 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

An Ancestral Pilgrimage

WITH A “GAME OF THRONES” DETOUR

Story and Photography by Michael Burge

early 130 years ago, my great-grandfather
packed up his family and meager posses-
N sions and set off from Northern Ireland for
the United States. This was his second such journey,
and this one would be permanent, as his children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren would live their
lives in a new country of his choosing.
Our roots are our roots, and we can’t resist the temp-
tation to dig them up and examine them, and that is
what I did in 2015, when my wife, Kathie, and I visited
County Tyrone, the place that my great-grandfather,
Edward Swift, left for good in 1891. It was a journey
packed with discoveries both pleasant and poignant.
For many years Northern Ireland was not a top tour-
ist destination because of the Troubles, the conflict
between Irish nationalists who wanted the northern
counties to join the Republic of Ireland, and Unionists
who wanted them to remain in the United Kingdom.
The fighting was also sectarian, with Catholics pit-
ted against Protestants. Between 1970 and 1998 the
suffering was profound, as an estimated 3,500 peo-
ple were killed in terrorist raids and retaliations. The
signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 eased
tensions and paved the road to peace, ending decades
of blood-letting.
The tamping down of violence had the added benefit
of reviving tourism in this northeastern corner of
the Emerald Isle, which is home to historic cities like
Belfast and Derry, and natural treasures like the Giant’s
Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede. The northern counties
got another big boost when the producers of “Game of
Thrones,” the wildly popular HBO series, saw Northern
Ireland’s mysterious, evergreen landscape as perfectly

194 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018