The Great Hunger emigration from Ireland was dramatic. Between 1845 and 1855 almost 1.5 million left Ireland and 340,000 of these traveled to the United States. Today 34.1 million Americans claim Irish ancestry, according to the latest Census, and their Irish ancestors are remembered through memorials around the country.

Here’s how the Americans remember their Irish Great Hunger ancestors:

In Boston, a bronze statue located at the corner of Washington and School Streets on the Freedom Trail depicts a starving woman, looking up to the heavens as if to ask "Why?", while her children cling to her. A second sculpture shows the figures hopeful as they land in Boston.

Buffalo, NY has a stone memorial on its waterfront.

Cambridge, MA has a memorial to the famine on its Common.

Chicago has a Famine Memorial at Chicago Gaelic Park.

Cleveland, A 12-foot-high (3.7 m) stone Celtic cross, located on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River.

In Fairfield, CT a memorial to the Famine victims stands in the chapel of Fairfield University.

In Hamden, CT a collection of art and literature from the Great Famine is on display in the Lender Family Special Collection Room of the Arnold Bernhard Library at Quinnipiac University.

Irish Hills, MI – The Ancient Order of Hibernian's An Gorta Mor Memorial is located on the grounds of St. Joseph's Shrine in the Irish Hills district of Lenawee County. There are thirty-two black stones as the platform, one for each county. The grounds are surrounded with a stone wall. The Lintel is a step from Penrose Quay in Cork Harbour. The project was the result of several years of fundraising by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Lenewee County. It was dedicated in 2004 by AOH Divisional President, Patrick Maguire, and many political and Irish figures from around the state of Michigan.



Keansburg, NJ has a Hunger Memorial in Friendship Park on Main Street.

New York City has the Irish Hunger Memorial, which looks like a sloping hillside with low stone walls and a roofless cabin on one side and a polished wall with lit (or white) lines on the other three sides. The memorial is in Battery Park City, a short walk west from the World Trade Center site. Another memorial exists in V.E. Macy Park in Ardsley, NY about 32 km north of Manhattan.

Philadelphia has a famine memorial at Front and Chestnut Streets, near Penn's Landing. The large bronze sculpture features numerous figures arranged in clusters or vignettes, with the east end depicting the depths of the misery of starvation. The work was dedicated on October 25, 2003 on a 1.75-acre (7,100 m2) site covering I-95 and overlooking the Delaware River. This is a fitting location because many Irish disembarked ships and entered Philadelphia—and the nation—near this area.

Phoenix has a famine memorial in the form of a dolmen at the Irish Cultural Center.

Portland, OR commissioned a large Celtic cross to be carved in Donegal, Ireland, and positioned on a prominent hill in the city in 2008. Irish President Mary McAleese was present at the unveiling.

Providence, RI has an Irish Famine Memorial along the Riverway, dedicated on November 17, 2007. Sculupture and a commemorative wall are the key elements of an impressive, educational memorial that has beautified the Providence River Walk location. A bronze statue of three Irish figures anchors one end of the site, with a walkway incorporating memorial bricks and flagstones leading to the memorial wall. There, a narrative plaque tells the story of the Great Famine and subsequent Irish immigration to the United States in bas relief. Memorial bricks and flagstones border an outline map depicting the two countries, Ireland and America. Twelve memorial benches along the walkway offer points at which to reflect on the stories and memories described in the relief wall and expressed within the numerous inscriptions.

Hackensack, NJ has a large stone located on the front corner of the Bergen County Government Court House on Main Street, honoring all of those who perished in the Famine. Every year in October, numerous Irish-American organizations from northern New Jersey hold a ceremony to remember all of those who perished.

Rochester, NY has a black granite memorial on the grounds of St. John Fisher College erected by the Ancient Order of Hibernians in 1997, one hundred and fifty years after the worst of the hunger. There is a moving inscription on each side of the memorial and the family names that surround it at the base represent donors who participated in the project. The memorial is the site of remembrances held in concert with the international remembrance day often held in May of each year.

Canada:

Rowan Gillespie's Irish potato famine memorial in Ireland Park, Toronto

Harbourfront Grosse-Île, Quebec, Canada, the largest famine grave site outside of Ireland. A large Celtic cross, erected by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, stands in remembrance overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The island is a Canadian national historic site.


Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 12-foot (3.7 m) limestone cross donated by the government of Ireland in 1997.

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, a large Celtic cross was built on Partridge Island, which was major quarantine station during the famine.

Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada a Celtic cross was erected on the mainland in view of Hospital Island. The island was a quarantine station.

Kingston, Ontario, Canada, has three monuments. Celtic cross at An Gorta Mor Park on the waterfront. Another is located at Skeleton (McBurney) Park (formerly Kingston Upper Cemetery). Angel of Resurrection monument, first dedicated in 1894 at St. Mary's cemetery.


Maidstone, Ontario, Canada, has a nine foot stone Celtic Cross at the cemetery outside St. Mary's Church

Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the "Boulder Stone" in Pointe-Saint-Charles

Toronto, Ontario Four bronze statues arriving at the Toronto wharves, at Ireland Park on Bathurst Quay, modeled after the Dublin Departure Memorial. List of names of those who died of typhus in the Toronto fever sheds shortly after their arrival. Current memorial plaque at Metro Hall. Also a pieta statue outside St. Paul's Catholic Basilica in memory of the famine victims and Bishop Michael Power, who died tending to the sick.