The first Irish Constitution was signed at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel in 1922. The Shelbourne, a favorite spot for sophisticated travelers to stay or dine in Dublin. Believe it or not, you actually walk through the original doors of the Shelbourne Hotel, when you walk into Annie Bailey's Irish Pub, right here in Lancaster!

Catherine Kelly, who died in 1785, was allegedly the smallest Irish woman ever. With a total height of just 34 inches and a weight of 8 pounds, she was known as “The Irish Fairy.”

Montgomery Street in Dublin was once the largest red light district in all of Europe, with over 1600 prostitutes plying their trade. An old Irish song called “Take Me Up To The Monto” memorializes this era.

According to some historians, over 40% of all American presidents have had some Irish ancestry.

The Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath was constructed around 3200 BC, making it more than 600 years older than the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.

Cemetery Sunday is a lesser-known tradition still practiced around Ireland, although it seems to take place on whatever date is most convenient for local church leaders. A mass is celebrated for families of those buried in the local church graveyard, after which an effort is made over several days to clean up the churchyard. Special attention is traditionally given to the graves of those who have no one left among the living to remember them.

In olden days, a pig was often allowed to live in the house with the family on an Irish farm. He (or she) was commonly referred to as "the gentleman (or Lady) who pays the rent."

A single day of good weather that pops up in a long stretch of bad days is known in Ireland as a "pet day."

Crying at Funerals..."Keening" is the Irish version of loud crying at wakes practiced in several European cultures (Italy in particular). It involves wailing and expressing endearments in Gaelic to the deceased. At some wakes, the Keening goes on for hours, with many participants.

Famous wit Oscar Wilde was born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde in Dublin in 1854.

Bram Stoker was working as a civil servant in Dublin when he wrote “Dracula” in 1897.

Irish scientist John Tyndall, In 1859, was the first to correctly explain why the sky is blue. The explanation may surprise you. The sun puts out a full spectrum of light colors – but your eyes are most sensitive to blue and red/purple colors. Molecules in the air scatter the sun’s blue light faster than they scatter its red light. A day-time sky without clouds looks blue because the sun is close to you, and relatively little of the blue light has been scattered. You see red and orange colors at sunset because the light must travel a greater distance to you, and all the blue light has been refracted away from your line of sight by the time the sun’s light hits you – not because of dust or other particles in the air as is widely believed.

Dublin was originally called "Dubh Linn," which means "Black Pool." The name refers to an ancient treacle lake in the city, which is now part of a penguin enclosure at the Dublin City Zoo.

A small number of devotees still go to holy wells in Ireland to "pay rounds," by circling a well three times and making a sign of the cross over it with a pebble. All ceremonies at holy wells were once frowned upon by The Church, which saw them as holdovers from Ireland’s pagan era.

The Vikings founded Dublin in 988.

The Irish flag, created in 1848, was designed to reflect the country's political realities. Orange stands for Irish Protestants, Green for Irish Catholics and the White stripe for the hope that peace might eventually be reached between them.

Even Saint Patrick liked a tipple. It was once popular in Ireland to pin sprigs of shamrocks on your coat on Saint Patrick's day in remembrance of his using shamrock leaves to illustrate the idea of the holy trinity. At the end of the day, one would "drown the shamrock" by putting a few shamrocks into a glass and covering them with whiskey.

Historians believe St. Patrick’s real name was "Maewyn Succat."

Gulliver’s Travels writer Jonathan Swift is buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

In 1800, the population of Ireland was almost twice as large as that of the United States. By 2000, America’s population was about 60 times that of Ireland

Ireland’s first saint was not Saint Patrick. He was Saint Abban, who went to preach in England during the 2nd century.

St. Patrick introduced the Roman alphabet and Latin literature into Ireland. After his death, Irish monasteries became Europe’s leading intellectual centers.

The tune of the "Star Spangled Banner" was composed by the great blind harper Turlough O’Carolan, who died about 35 years before the American revolution.

Medieval laws in Ireland allowed a man to divorce his wife if she damaged his honor through infidelity, thieving or “making a mess of everything.”

“Tallaght” in Dublin is an old name that means “The Plague cemetery.”

Temple Bar district in Dublin got its name because it was the site of the first Jewish temple built in Ireland. The word “bar” refers to the refusal by Catholics to allow Jews to enter any of the stores in the area.

According to tradition, a wedding party should always take the longest road home from church.

Aran Island sweaters have a variety of "family weaves." These were developed because when a fisherman drowned, his sweater would often be the only thing washed up on shore. The distinctive weave would tell a family their loved one had been lost.

Killary Bay, on the Mayo-Galway border, is the only true fjord in Ireland. A fjord is a long, narrow inlet from the sea between high slopes.

Ireland’s 15 principal railway stations are named after the leaders of the 1916 uprising.

An “An Fáinne” is a lapel pin, worn by some fluent Irish speakers to invite others to speak to them in the traditional language, Gaelic.

Director John Huston filmed the New Bedford, Massachusetts scenes in his 1956 movie "Moby Dick" in Youghal, County Cork.

Famed Hollywood movie director John Ford was born Sean O’Feeney in 1894, in Spiddal, County Galway.

James Joyce once called Guinness stout "the wine of Ireland."

Ireland has virtually no coal deposits, even though it’s just 60 miles from Wales, one of the world’s richest coal fields.

It’s not the custom in Ireland to wear green ties, hats or other green clothes on St. Patrick's Day. A sprig of shamrock in the coat lapel is the preferred display.

Baileys Irish Cream which was launched in Ireland in the early seventies, is now the most popular liqueur in the world.