KATIE M. HILL - Bridget's Home

“All I ever wanted was a home; just a wee cottage...”  And so begins Katie M. Hill’s historical novel, Bridget’s Home, which follows the journey of Moira and Barnard Culligan, a newlywed couple who emigrate from Ireland in the early 19th century when Irish laborers were recruited to help build the Eire Canal.  From a boarding house near Erie to “paddy” camps and tenements in Worcester, Massachusetts, the family battles bigotry, poverty, sickness and the “Irish Curse” as they search for a permanent home in their new land.

Ms. Hill has been writing and lecturing on the topic of Irish immigration to America since 1989, when she wrote the first of three plays about the 19th century Irish Diaspora.  In 1996 she received official recognition from the Republic of Ireland for her play about the Famine - Katie O’Shea: Tales of a Famine Immigrant.  Ms. Hill has worked at Old Sturbridge Village for several years, where she interprets the life of Mary Culligan, an 1830s Irish immigrant who served as the inspiration fo the character of Moira.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Milford Town Library, this event is free and open to the public.