On the 30th, we arrived in Carrigart for the first time. It was very exciting to finally see the town we’ve been researching for so long, and it was safe  to say that it was exactly how I’d envisioned it. Carrigart is a beautiful little town, and absolutely tiny by American standards. There’s only around two-hundred and fifty people living in the town proper. We’re currently in Carrigart during peak tourist season, as many come to the town during summer for activities like the nearby golf courses and the beaches. However, what I see to be the biggest draw to Carrigart in my short time here is the community itself.

Something immediately apparent upon being in Carrigart for even a short while is how peaceful the town is. Even with a small population, people are always walking around and talking to each other. The nearby shore is naturally pristine and free to enter, while providing a gentle cool breeze to the town.  It’s very easy to see how Carrigart won the 2026 Best Kept Village award with how the streets are incredibly clean, while it’s hard to walk a few steps without seeing the simple beauty of nature or a sign of Irish culture. There’s also essentially no crime! The guide of our introduction to Carrigart, Brendan from All People Be Happy, explained that he’d only seen two real incidents in his time living in Carrigart: one where tourists playing soccer(well, football, obviously) accidentally broke a car window, and one where Brendan’s young daughters’ scooters were stolen but everybody knew who did it and gently intimidated them into returning them. 

The other story I encountered which made me know just how connected the community of Carrigart is happened during our scavenger hunt activity, where everyone in the Haller Global Fellowship Program group was paired with one other and tasked with finding landmarks and speaking with locals in order to familiarize ourselves with Carrigart. One of the people we spoke with was Wendy, the owner and main chef of the Carrigart One 8. The One 8 is a restaurant situated in Carrigart’s Main Street which has been operating for five years. Wendy was born in Carrigart in the late 60’s, and after several years living in the town she left to travel the world as a photographer. After thirty years away, in 2011 she returned to Carrigart and to the building that the Carrigart One 8 is in now, which had been in her family for four generations. Wendy used her love of cooking and wide experience from eating foreign dishes during her time abroad to inform her restaurant’s menu items. Now, I’ve gone a long while without mentioning how the Carrigart One 8 got its name! The term “one eight” comes from what she would call the rotary phone that she decided to bring with her everywhere she went when she traveled the world, as the phone had “18” engraved on it. Wendy even left it in London once and had to go back to get it! The phone still survives, though the eighteen on it has long eroded away.

The reason that Wendy returned was the same reason that Brendan came to live in Carrigart: the community, the familiarity, and the peace. The fact that someone who travelled the world for so many years didn’t find anywhere as peaceful as Carrigart proves to me how much of a gem it is. All I’ve seen even in my single afternoon here has made me all the more enthusiastic towards my project. I want to do my best on this project not just for my academic and career success, but because I want Carrigart to succeed and the rich personal history of this village to continue!