About County Antrim
County Antrim stretches along the northeastern coast of Ireland, a land of dramatic clifftops, dark glens and one of the world's most remarkable natural formations. The county's coastline has shaped its character, fiercely independent, weathered by Atlantic storms, rich in Gaelic and Scottish heritage intertwined over centuries of migration across the narrow channel to Scotland.
History
Antrim was at the heart of the 1798 United Irishmen rebellion, a moment when Presbyterian farmers and Catholic labourers united briefly against British rule. The county's linen industry made it one of the most industrialised parts of Ireland by the 19th century, yet its glens remained untouched, small farming communities speaking Irish well into the 20th century. Many Antrim families emigrated during the Famine and throughout the 19th century, primarily to America's eastern seaboard.
How Antrim families left Ireland
Antrim's emigrants left through the port of Belfast and Larne, many bound for the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Scots-Irish tradition, Ulster Presbyterians who had settled in Antrim generations earlier, created one of the most significant migration streams in American history, shaping the Appalachian frontier culture of early America.
Places worth visiting in County Antrim
- Giant's Causeway, the ancient volcanic formation that defined this coastline for millennia
- Dunluce Castle, the dramatic clifftop ruin overlooking the North Atlantic
- Glenariff Forest Park, the queen of the Glens of Antrim, unchanged for centuries
- Carrickfergus Castle, one of Ireland's best-preserved Norman castles, standing since 1177
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