Ste-Agathe Irish Community
Connects With their Celtic Roots
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A CELTIC CROSS ringed by a stone circle stands in Ste-Agathe, Quebec in honour of the Irish who settled in that area.
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STE-AGATHE - In the year 2000 a group of Irish descendants in Ste-Agathe, Quebec built a Celtic cross to commemorate the journey of their ancestors in the early-mid 1800s to that area of Quebec (located in the heart of the Laurentians, approximately 45 miles southwest of Quebec City).
While the cross has been much appreciated the group felt it somehow lacked something, so this year they created an Irish stone circle around the cross. The stones were sourced from local farms of the original Irish farmer-settlers and actually "moved" the community to get excited about the cross again.
At one time the settlement of Ste-Agathe was approximately 80 percent Irish and there are now approximately 25 remaining families, so the cross and circle have played a big role in "connecting" the remaining Irish to their roots.
Spokesman Steve Cameron said the monument has even resulted in many of their Francophone neighbours now talking about their own Celtic connections. He said the community is also curious to know whether this is the first "stone circle" in Canada.
If anyone has any information or would like to learn more about the Celtic cross and stone circle in Ste-Agathe, Quebec, e-mail: tirnanog@netscape.ca.
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