Southie
I am from Hail Mary full of grapes … midnight mass and pennies in the poor box … I’m from the unlucky luck of the Irish … the Old Sod and Southie before there were gangsters … Excerpt from “Where I’m From” by Colleen
One of my goals for my recent trip home to Massachusetts was to tour South Boston, the predominately Irish neighborhood where my Irish relatives first settled. My father’s parents were raised and met on the alphabet streets of Southie, and my father lived there when he was young, before moving with his family to North Quincy.
Although I had grown up in Hull, just twenty miles south of Southie, I had never been there, at least not that I could remember. It’s true that I marched through the neighborhood in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade when I was a girl in the Bellettes of St. Mary’s drill team. But I didn’t know we were in Southie, and I wasn’t aware of my own connections to it. All I do remember about that time was how cold my hands were, how I and a friend had to drop out of the parade to find a bathroom, how Father Lapore helped us find a stranger willing to let us go into her house, and how we had to run to catch back up with our group. 
When I was older and took the subway into Boston, I was warned not to get off at the South Boston stops. By then the neighborhood had gone down hill and was over-run with crime, drugs, and the influence of Whitey Bulger, the Irish mob boss who the movie “The Departed” was based on.
I became especially interested in Southie after reading All Souls Day, a memoir by Michael Patrick McDonald about growing as one of ten children in the Old Colony projects. McDonald’s story was set during the era of de-segregation and the school busing riots, which played out violently in South Boston. Several of his siblings became involved in drugs, crime, and murder, and one committed suicide. Being one of nine from an Irish Catholic family that began in South Boston, I kept thinking as I read, “That could have been us.” Reading about the poverty and corruption, I imagined my Uncle Bernard, who was raised in Southie in a more innocent time, turning over in his grave.
But the primary thing that drew me to want to experience South Boston was some old photographs that my father passed on to me for safe keeping. They were of his mother and father and some of the youngest of their eleven children at the turn of the nineteenth century. My grandmother as a young woman, just a sliver of how I remember her, was dressed in Gibson Girl fashion. They were standing in front of one of the large cannons of Fort Independence on Castle Island at the foot of the South Boston neighborhood. 
I wanted to find the same cannon and take a photograph of myself in front of it, but when my sister, her husband, and I got there we learned that most of the original cannons were moved or sold for junk after the Civil War. Others were used for scrap, recycled into more modern weapons for WWII. The biggest, probably the one I was looking for, was moved in 1961 when the island was renovated and expanded.
The tour guide took a liking to us, especially after I told him about the old photographs and promised to send him one for their historic collection. He made sure we got a good tour, even though tours mid-week weren’t open to the public. We got up close to the biggest cannon they had, a replica of the older and larger ones. From the top of the fort, we watched the ships in the harbor, snapped some memorable pictures, and learned about the history of the site, which had been home to seven different fort incarnations that dated back to Pre-Revolutionary War.
Although the Irish working class influence is still strong in Southie, many wealthy people have recently bought property along the coast there. 
It’s more racially integrated than it was, seems to be cleaned up from crime, and, for the most part, still feels homey. We walked by the bar that was used in the filming of “Good Will Hunting,” and saw the corner store used in “Mystic River.” I loved the towering old four-family homes with antique trim and touches that you don’t see much anymore. I forgot to bring the photos that my cousin Patty sent me of the houses our relatives once lived in, the Bergins, the Murrays, the Redmans, and Dineens. Although, I didn’t remember the address numbers, I knew what streets they lived on. As we walked, I imagined them coming in and out of front doors, and walking on the same patch of sidewalk that we were walking on more than one-hundred years later.
Photos: 1. My grandparents, some of their kids and relatives on Castle Island, South Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1900’s. 2. My sister Sherry at the fort on Castle Island a couple of weeks ago. 3. Her husband Nelson and a historian at the fort. 4. Me in front of a cannon on my first visit to Castle Island. More on Castle Island HERE.
July 15th, 2007 9:37 pm
what a lovely trip down memory lane! i really enjoyed reading this entry. now i have to watch the movie “the departed”!
i’m here by way of michele. have a great day.
July 15th, 2007 9:58 pm
Be warned that it’s very violent. It has some good plot twists but maybe one too many. Mark Wahlburg has the most authentic Boston accent, coming from Dorchester, another working class neighborhood right right next door to South Boston.
July 15th, 2007 10:08 pm
As Boston has always been one of my favorite cities, your rich tapestry-like entries have fascinated me endlessly. Thanks, Colleen, for sharing it as only you can. I can’t wait to go back again soon, as I’ll see it through even clearer eyes. Thanks to you.
July 15th, 2007 10:25 pm
Hi Colleen
Thoroughly enjoyed your post and your photos…..our ties to our ancestry and familial stories are so important in our feelings of love and belonging, don’t you think?
Michele says hello…….
July 15th, 2007 10:56 pm
What a wonderful visit Colleen…to walk those streets where your relatives walked all those years ago….That had to be ab anazing experuence….In a way, like Revisiting the relatives themselves….!
All of the history of the area itself, too…Fascinating. It is also so interesting that the area has changed, yet again…! You have such a sense of history and family, too, Colleen…And such a true love of both.
July 16th, 2007 2:52 am
Hi Colleen…To answer your question about Orchids and growing…I have never tried to actually “grow” one….most people I know who do grow Orchids have a little greenhouse…Keeping them alive and well, once you have one can be a real challenge….But, I know people who seem to have that gift. The weather conditions in the house are very important….Moisture, too much moisrure, sunlight…or just light, period…Etc., Etc., Etc….I have found it quite difficult at times and than have seen that sometimes benign neglect works better than anything…LOL! I think it all depends on the individual plant….some seem to do better than others….But, I have had Orchids that kept their blooms for over three months….! They are amazing plants that certainly are, as you said, quite exotic…Hawaii is a GREAT place to raise Orchids and they seem to last a very long time there….So much of the vegation there is exotic and beautiful…Maybe we all should move there…(Just kidding…)
July 16th, 2007 3:40 am
Colleen, you write so beautifully and evocatively – thanks for sharing your trip down memory lane in such a way that I felt I might be exploring alongside you.
July 16th, 2007 9:30 am
brilliant writing dear one. i expect we’ll be seeing it published in Hull Times at least if not the weekend section of the Globe!
July 16th, 2007 10:14 am
I never saw that picture Coll. I love it!!!!
I think the cannon looks almost the same, but of course not as big.
I really enjoyed that day and wish we were together again. I miss you
Our Nana looks a lot like Aunt Claire. The kids must be Joe, Bernard, Miriam, Gertie and Chun.
July 16th, 2007 10:27 am
Can you believe how thin she was? The other woman is Pa’s sister, Teresa I think. One of the kids is her daughter, Agnes Redman. Dad pointed her out in some of the other photos from that day. I remember it well because he talked about how Anges’s mother never married her father and she had the mother’s last name, very unusual in those days.
The photos are very small. I blew them up.
I’m so glad we went. Thanks to you and Nelson for taking me! Once home, I dug out the photos of the houses they lived in that Patty sent me. A couple were on 0 Street.
July 16th, 2007 11:56 am
Coleen, what a wonderful selection from your history. I love the old photo. The newer cannon looks much smaller than the older one did.
July 16th, 2007 8:28 pm
What a neat picture to have and such an honour that your dad chose you to safeguard it and treasure it.
July 16th, 2007 10:36 pm
I would love to explore Boston. It is on my cities to visit list. It has been fun catching up here tonight. From your cool poem below to your windblown look to your canon….as always you keep us very entertained!
July 17th, 2007 6:53 am
Wonderful blog, Colleen. Pics and stories and all. Thank you.
July 17th, 2007 10:21 am
Not everyone seems to have the need, but I think knowing my roots and family history has been an important part of realizing my identity and place in this strange world.
July 17th, 2007 10:27 am
I agree, Leslie. When I went to Ireland ten years ago, it was worth about ten years of psycho therapy as far as understanding myself better.
July 18th, 2007 7:32 am
Funny how a neighbourhood cycles. That’s a fascinating little stroll. I have an old album and have thought to recreate the footsteps of the family in the photos. Lovely antique photo for you to have.
April 8th, 2008 12:20 pm
southie is my home town and it was better in the 90’s and 80’s