This week I had the pleasure and privilege of going to Immaculata to listen to the Watson brothers and their team announce another mass grave discovery to the west of the original mass grave. The precise location is not divulged, it’s somewhere near Northwood Cemetery in Downingtown.
Duffy’s Cut and the continuation of the history of what happened with these Irish rail workers is important.
When I was growing up, my late maternal grandfather was Irish. Irish American, not Irish born, but he told me about Duffy’s Cut. he also told me about being a little boy at the turn of the 20th century in Philadelphia and seeing signs in the windows that said “No Irish Need Apply.” I remember being like 11 or 12 and asking a history teacher about it and the teacher said yes there were the signs in the windows but graves of murdered railroad workers never existed and Duffy’s Cut wasn’t real.
And here we are today. Those men, and that one woman we knew of, existed. They mattered. The history mattered.
If you are curious about the history, there is a museum within Immaculata library devoted to this. But please, whatever you do don’t go running around ghost hunting. These discoveries have occurred on private property and it is a privilege not a right that that the archaeological team under the direction of the Watson Brothers are doing this important work.
Please visit https://duffyscut.immaculata.edu/ for more information and also if you would like to make a donation.
https://www.irishcentral.com/news/irish-mass-grave-downingtown