February 19, 2016 Friday. Day 4 of the Ultimate Irish Pub Tour with true Ireland native, Tim Herlihy.
Out of breath yet? We are only on Day 4 of American Bars tracking of Tullamore Tim’s warp speed journey across the country and he has already tracked enough frequent flyer miles for the year. From LA to the sands of Hawaii, to Las Vegas and up to Seattle.
Yes, any trip to Alaska is a major journey. However, Tim apparently has not checked the milage on the maps. He is actually visiting TWO other states today PRIOR to jetting up to Alaska!
Yes, Tim will start his day winging from Seattle to Missoula, Montana and then fly on to Portland, Oregon before the loooong journey north to Anchorage, Alaska late in the day. Tim will hit a total of four bars in three very far flung states within this 24 hour period. It takes an Irishman who knows his whiskey to hold up through such rigorous travel.
Want to meet Tim? Here is where hewill be today, Friday, February 19th. Call the bar to find out what time Tim will be arriving.
Tom Meager Bar
406-540-4402
130 W. Pine Ave. Missoula, MT 59802
Tim’s first port of call will be Tom Meager Bar in Missoula. Thomas Meager's reflects more than an authentic Irish pub, it memorializes a man who symbolizes Montana.
If you want a story of danger and high adventure, you can do no better than Thomas Francis Meagher, the namesake of the bar in Missoula, Montana Born in Waterford, Ireland in 1823, he joined the radical Young Ireland movement, defying the British which, of course, lead to a punishment of banishment to life in prison on an island off the Australian coast.
Meagher, engineered an escape in 1852, spending four days at sea in a rowboat until an American whaling ship crossed his path, and took him to San Francisco. Meagher took full advantage of his intelligence, ambitions and America. He moved to New York, became a lawyer, popular speaker, and a founder of newspapers.
When the Civil War erupted, he joined up with the Union, rising to the rank of Brigadier General, where he recruited Irish immigrants (what else!) for the Fighting 69th Irish Brigade, and marched under a green flag embroidered with the words: "Erin go Bragh" ("Ireland Forever").
A few months after war's end, Meagher was appointed Acting Governor of the Montana Territory. Finally, in the summer of 1867, after repeatedly beating the odds, Thomas Meagher reportedly fell off a riverboat and drowned in the Missouri River, at age 44. His body was never found! A statue of Thomas Meagher charging on horseback currently stands before the Montana State Capitol building in Helena. His brief life as revolutionary, orator, patriot, convict, journalist, explorer, soldier, and politician can only be summed up as "Irish Pride, personified." Erin go Bragh!
Go meet Tim today. Tell him you heard of him through American Bars. hoist a toast to the memory of Tom and enjoy yourself.
