Irish Culture in Appalachia
To kick off the New Year, the Columbus Irish column will take a trip southeast into Appalachia. For a few columns this year, I will highlight Irish American culture in easily accessible cities and regions for the residents of Central Ohio. There will still be lots of Columbus content too!
This month, the Shamrock Club has a concert from New York City’s Ryan McCombe Trio on January 15. McCombe was first a Champion Irish step dancer, before moving into Trad, and now fast-paced modern Trad playing.
The Shamrock Club appearance is the first of his four dates in Ohio in mid-January. Next, the Palace Theater hosts Chicago-born Irish American comedian John Mulaney on January 17. For now, though, put on Van Morrison and the Chieftains’ version of “Shenandoah” and enjoy a trip through the mountains and valleys that connect both the land and cultures of Ireland and Scotland to the United States.
The International Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Mountains are geological cousins to the mountain chains of western Scotland and Ireland. The link was cemented in the 18th and 19th centuries, when many Scots Irish emigrated out of Ulster into the frontier mountains of Colonial America—Appalachia.
The Scots Irish were the product of the Highland Clearances, a British policy of removal of the Scottish clans of northern Scotland, which saw many Scottish Highlanders given farmsteads in the eastern part of Ulster. Those same people then became some of the first economic migrants from Europe into Colonial America, linking the mountains of Scotland, Ireland, and the United States together culturally as well.
This column will not begin to explore the Irish culture in Canada’s Newfoundland; the Irish Alps—otherwise known as the Catskills in New York state; nor Pittsburgh. All celebrate Irish culture so well that they deserve their own future columns.
Of note, however, the University of Pittsburgh is the only University in the Appalachian Mountain region offering courses in the Irish language—including a Minor Degree—and the possibility to earn a Certificate in Transatlantic Studies. Also make sure to check out the University’s Irish Room if visiting. Lastly, the “Transatlantic” podcast from March 31, 2025, titled “The Irish in Pennsylvania Coal Country”—exploring the history of the Molly Maguires—is a fantastic listen about Irish miners’ impact on workers’ culture and conditions in 19th Century Appalachia and the broader United States.
Irish America in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia
The West Virginia Irish Road Bowling Association, based out of Ireland, West Virginia, is the backbone of modern Irish cultural expression in the State. The Association participates at all kinds of Irish Festivals around Appalachia and brings Irish pride to other types of festivals throughout West Virginia. The town of Ireland where the Association was founded, in Lewis County, West Virginia, has an Irish Spring Festival every year in the State’s rural northeast.
Charleston, the State Capitol, hosts its 10th annual Celtic Calling, a weeklong festival celebrating the cultures of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales on March 4 through 8, 2026. The West Virginia Wild and Wonderful Celtic Festival and Highland Games will be June 20, 2026, in Beverly, West Virginia, in beautiful Randolph County.
Scots Irish Transatlantic Culture
A great resource for understanding the Scots Irish impact on America is the journalist Karen McCarthy’s book, The Other Irish: The Scots-Irish Rascals who made America. Eastern Tennessee offers ample opportunity to celebrate these immigrants and their descendants today. The Scots-Irish Festival will happen September 25-26, 2026, in Dandridge, Tennessee, while the Tennessee cultural group Appalachian Highland Celts has programming year-round celebrating Scottish, Highland, and Celtic culture, culminating in the Smoky Mountains Scottish Festival and Games, May 16-17, 2026, at the Greater Smokies Event Grounds in Townsend, Tennessee.
Asheville, Nashville, Irish America Appalachia
The western valley of the Appalachian Mountains is the site of the region’s most impactful city, Nashville. The state capitol of Tennessee is “sister cities” with Belfast and takes its St. Patrick’s Day festivities so seriously that Irish dancers take over the Grand Ole Opry’s hallowed stage.
This March, the city will join Cleveland in hosting the High Kings Rocky Road Tour on March 3, 2026, at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The city has its own Gaelic Athletic Club, supporting hurling, football, and camogie for its residents, and a year-round Irish cultural group called the Irish Network Nashville.
When you follow the music South and cross the mountains, you hit Asheville. The North Carolina mountain town has too many Irish pubs and Trad session opportunities to list. Lake Lure, just outside the city, held its second annual Carolina Celtic Music Festival on the last weekend of September 2025.
The giant summer educational and cultural workshop, The Swannanoa Gathering, is set for Celtic Week July 19-25, 2026. Classes are extremely limited, but the gathering brings wonderful musicians to the towns of Black Mountain, Swannanoa, and Asheville, even if you are not a Gathering participant yourself. Before any trip to Asheville or the surrounding mountains, make sure to check out Atlanta-born sisters Rising Appalachia, who record their albums at Echo Mountain Studio in Asheville, and now successfully tour throughout Ireland and across the U.S.
Irish America in the Deep South
The Southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains finds Huntsville, Alabama. Rocket City, now the largest city in Alabama, is so called because of its NASA installation and military bases. The technology job influx of residents has seen many new Irish and Irish Americans move to the city at the end of Appalachia. The population now supports the most-active chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Alabama. Irish culture in Huntsville centers around Maggie McGuinness, a fantastic Irish pub hosting live music in the basement of the home of a prominent local Irish American family.
Athbhliain faoi mhaise dhaoibh (Happy New Year)! Here’s to growing Irish culture in Ohio, in Appalachia, and throughout the United States!
