Boneybefore
Boneybefore
A mile outside Carrickfergus you will come to Boneybefore, the ancestral home of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States. The sign on the Causeway Coastal Route is very small and easily missed but a visit to the cottage is both intriguing and unique. If you want to go inside you have to make an appointment with Carrickfergus Council or visit on a Wednesday or a Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm when it is manned by voluntary staff from Kragfergus, a local living history group. The restored cottage was originally built in the 1750s and one of a dozen similar cottages in the locality. For information about visiting the centre follow this link: Visiting Andrew Jackson Cottage
It is not where his parents emigrated from, unfortunately the identical cottage was demolished to make way for the railway in 1860 and stood fifty yards away from this one, today a blue plaque marks the spot. His parents Andrew and Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson emigrated to America in 1765. Andrew Jackson (junior) was born two years after his parents had arrived and settled in the Waxhaws on the border of North and South Carolina. His father tragically died in February 1767, three weeks before he was born, after injuring himself lifting a log, he was aged 29.
Attached to the cottage is a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the United States Army Rangers who have a unique connection to this area. After the US committed to enter the Second World War, Major General Truscott, the liaison with the British General Staff, submitted proposals that the US form a unit similar to the British Commandos. A cable from the War Department quickly followed to Truscott authorizing the activation of the First U.S. Army Ranger Battalion. They entered the European Theatre of War in 1942 when the 1st Ranger Battalion was recruited, trained and billeted in Carrickfergus. They saw active service in North Africa and Italy, the majority of the 500 volunteers came from the 34th Infantry Division and of those 500 only 87 survived the war.
A short distance along the road on the opposite side is 'Fool's Haven', a well kept thatched cottage (4* self-catering) which dates to the same period as the Andrew Jackson Cottage. On the wall is a blue plaque to Ruddick Millar (1907 - 1952) Titanic Orphan, Journalist, Author and Playright. His father Thomas Millar had been employed by Harland and Wolff as a fitter and worked on the engines of both the Olympic and Titanic. He then joined the White Star Line and after one voyage aboard the 'Gothard' was assigned to the Titanic as a Deck Engineer. His wife Jeannie who is buried in Victoria Cemetary, Carrickfergus, died in January of 1912 leaving Thomas with two young boys, William Ruddick and Thomas.
Thomas had decided to go out and settle in New York where he would continue working for the White Star Line and bring the boys out when he had set up home. While this was happening the boys were being taken care of by their Aunt Maud at this cottage in Boneybefore. Before he left he gave each of them a new penny and told them not to spend them until he came back. Sadly, Thomas Millar was lost with the Titanic and his body never recovered. He is remembered on the Titanic Memorial at Belfast City Hall and also on his wife's grave in Carrickfergus. The two pennies he gave to his sons are still with the family.