8 U.S. cities where you can dive deep into Irish American culture

While Irish immigration to America traces back to colonial times, the Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, drove a significant wave to the United States in the 19th century. Now, one in 10 Americans claim Irish ancestry, according to a 2021 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Over time, Irish immigrants and their descendants have made longstanding contributions to American history, culture, and politics, all while maintaining their Irish identity. Read on for eight places across the U.S. where you can learn more about their impact and traditions—well beyond St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

New York was one of the main U.S. destinations for Irish immigrants in the 19th century, welcoming more than 3.5 million through Ellis Island. The city also held the very first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the U.S. in 1762—a full 14 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As such, the city has an abundance of sites related to Irish history.

Start at the Ellis Island National Immigration Museum. On the second floor, you’ll find a statue of Annie Moore, an Irish teenager who became the first immigrant to be federally processed at Ellis Island on New Year’s Day in 1892. Then, explore the “Peak Immigration Years” exhibit, which includes the passports of several other Irish immigrants, then head to the third floor to view the “Treasures from Home” display, featuring a shillelagh (an Irish cane).

Next, visit the Tenement Museum, located across two historic buildings on the Lower East Side. The museum runs guided tours of recreated tenement apartments—including one where Irish couple Joseph and Bridget Moore raised their children in 1869—that show how immigrants lived in New York in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Other noteworthy sites include St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Nolita, the heart of New York’s Irish community in the mid-1800s and the original seat of the Archdiocese of New York before St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Midtown was built 1879; McSorley’s Old Ale House in the East Village, a working man’s saloon that opened in 1854 and still serves just two types of beer (light and dark); and the Irish Arts Center in Hell’s Kitchen, where you can learn about Irish culture through musical performances, films, exhibits, and more.

Head to Boston to explore the Irish Heritage Trail, a guide to landmarks in the city and throughout Massachusetts linked to Irish-American artists and historical figures from the 1700s to today. It’s divided into three sections: downtown Boston and the Back Bay, other neighborhoods in Boston, and cities and towns throughout Massachusetts. Visitors can take self-guided tours of the included sites to learn more about Boston’s largest ethnic community.

Featured landmarks range from memorials and monuments to buildings and parks. Among the 20 stops within the trail’s Boston neighborhoods portion, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester honors the life and legacy of the first Irish-Catholic president of the United States. The Boston and Back Bay segment includes Fenway Park thanks to Charles Logue, an Irish immigrant whose Charles Logue Building Company built the ballpark in 1912.

Finish your tour with a Guinness at J.J. Foley’s Cafe, a family-owned institution in the South End that’s been around since 1909.

You’ll find Irish history all over Newport, starting at Fort Adams, which was built mainly by Irish immigrants between 1824 and 1857 to defend Narragansett Bay against attack. Today, visitors to the site—which remains the largest coastal fortification in the country—can view the quarters where officers and their family lived, explore underground tunnels beneath the walls, and even stay overnight in the barracks.

Over the 33 years it took to construct Fort Adams, an Irish community developed in the nearby Fifth Ward neighborhood. Go there now and you’ll find the Museum of Newport Irish History, which teaches about Irish immigration to Newport County from the 1600s to today through photographs, maps, and artifacts. The museum also hosts regular events like an annual “Irish Newport” trolley tour, with stops at important sites like the Barney Street Cemetery, and “Dancing at the Forty Steps,” which commemorates the informal dances Irish-Americans often held there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Afterward, head to O’Brien’s Pub, a Fifth Ward staple since 1945.

Located along Lemmon Street in Baltimore’s Union Square neighborhood, the 1840s row homes that now house the Irish Railroad Workers Museum were originally built to accommodate Irish immigrants who went to work for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the mid-19th century. Today, two of the residences have been meticulously preserved to show how the workers and their families lived during that time. Also on offer at the museum is programming like Irish Gaelic lessons and genealogy events, during which you can trace your Irish roots with the help of a dedicated researcher.

When you’re done at the museum, post up at one of Baltimore’s many Irish bars, including Mick O’Shea’s in Mt. Vernon, Slainte Irish Pub and Restaurant in Fells Point, and Quigley’s Half-Irish Pub near Camden Yards.

Set along the Mississippi River in the southern part of New Orleans, the Irish Channel gets its name from the Irish immigrants who settled there and worked in the neighborhood’s port and breweries in the 1830s. These days, the area boasts a lively bar and restaurant scene, but still holds onto its past through sites like the St. Alphonsus Art & Cultural Center, a former Catholic church turned community space that hosts art exhibits, live concerts, and more. The neighborhood also holds a popular St. Patrick’s Day parade every year on the Saturday before the March 17 holiday.

Savannah has deep Celtic roots, as Irish immigrants arrived on some of the first ships to transport settlers to the colony of Georgia in 1734. Among the many notable Irish-American landmarks in the city today is the French Gothic–style Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, which features a stunning window mural of St. Patrick holding a shamrock. The Travelers’ Choice Award–winning spot is also the starting point for Savannah’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Next, check out sites like Emmet Park, named for Irish patriot Robert Emmet and home to the Irish Celtic Cross Memorial, and the William Jasper Monument, which honors an Irish-American sergeant in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

Also stroll through the Old Fort neighborhood, a formerly working-class area where Irish and African-American families lived in the 1800s, and stop by Cohen’s Retreat, a restaurant that has a 600-pound original stone from Blarney Castle in County Cork, Ireland.

In 1887, Irish proprietors Ed and Mary Flavin opened a small grocery store in the front of their home called Flavin’s Market. Over time, it grew into a family business, surviving the Great Depression and both World Wars to become Browne’s Irish Marketplace—the oldest continuously operated Irish business in America. It now sells a wide selection of imported goods like Barry’s Tea, Club Rock Shandy soda, and Brown’s Irish soda bread alongside clothing, home decor, and jewelry by Irish artisans. There’s also prepared food on offer, including reuben sandwiches, Irish potato soup, and shepherd’s pie.

Once you’ve had your fill, see what’s happening at the Kansas City Irish Center, which has everything from genealogy workshops and film screenings to Irish dance classes and traditional music jam sessions. You’ll also want to stop by Restless Spirits Distilling, touted as the first Irish-American distillery in the U.S., and Kelly’s Westport Inn, a beloved pub housed in the oldest building in Kansas City.

When you think about Irish traditions in Chicago, your first thought is likely of the fluorescent green Chicago river, but there’s more to the city’s Irish American history than St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Start at the nonprofit Irish American Heritage Center on the city’s northwest side, which offers everything from musical performances and dance parties to art exhibits and Friday fish fry dinners during Lent. The building also boasts a library filled with Irish literature and children’s folklore, and a theater for live shows by Irish musicians. Tour the center with a docent to learn more about its mission to promote Irish culture.

Afterward, make the 30-minute drive south to the historic neighborhood of Beverly, where most Irish immigrants to Chicago settled in the late 19th century. Today, the area is home to more Irish bars than anywhere else in the city, as well as the stunning Beverly Unitarian Church, which was modeled after a medieval castle that once sat between Dublin and Belfast. Beverly also holds Chicago’s annual South Side Irish Parade—a massive, family-friendly event that marks St. Patrick’s Day each year.