Beyond the multicolored shops, red brick streets packed with performers and quays filled with sailboats that draw visitors to the
Beyond the multicolored shops, red brick streets packed with performers and quays filled with sailboats that draw visitors to the town of Kinsale, County Cork, is a memorial to a tragedy that occurred an ocean away.
On a hilltop overlooking the fishing village on Ireland’s southwest coast stands a grove of 343 trees — one for each firefighter who died in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
Kathleen Murphy, who grew up in Kinsale and had immigrated to New York, was working as a nurse at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan when the World Trade Center was struck. Ms. Murphy, 56 at the time, treated wounded firefighters and spent the days that followed at ground zero, trying to help in any way she could, her nephew John Murphy said.
But frustration lingered. Even with her skills and training, she felt powerless. So many people died before anyone could save them.
So when she returned to her hometown for a visit shortly after the attacks, she enlisted locals and relatives to help create a memorial garden on a one-acre plot of family land in a section of town called Ringfinnan. By November 2001, a small grove had formed. On St. Patrick’s Day the following year, the Ringfinnan Garden of Remembrance officially opened.
“It was something to stand the test of time,” Mr. Murphy said. “After the fact, after the grief surrounding the whole event, it could be something that would be left.”
Ms. Murphy died in 2011, at the age of 66, after a five-year battle with ovarian cancer, which her family believes was not connected to her time spent at ground zero.
Today, the young trees planted 22 years ago have grown into mature sycamores and oaks, each shading a sign that bears the name of a firefighter in bold, black print. On Monday, a group of locals — residents, town councilors, maybe a priest or two — will gather in the garden for a quiet moment of reflection.
Over the years, many have come to pay their respects, often traveling great distances to reach the memorial. Just last month, members of the New York Fire Department’s Emerald Society, a group for those of Irish heritage, visited the garden and laid a wreath.
Ms. Murphy had been close to the Rev. Mychal F. Judge, a chaplain in the New York Fire Department and a priest known for his work with AIDS patients.
On the morning of Sept. 11, while administering last rites to a firefighter, Father Judge, 68, was struck by falling debris and died.
