Ballinascarty
Baile na Scairte

The West Cork
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Baile na Scairte · Co. Cork

Henry Ford's people came from here. The village is modest. The connection is real.

Henry Ford's paternal grandfather, John Ford, emigrated from Ballinascarty in 1847 during the Famine. Henry Ford returned to the area in 1912, visiting the family farm at Madame near Ballinascarty. He's commemorated with a memorial stone in the village. That's the headline.

The village itself is small — a crossroads between Dunmanway and Clonakilty with a shop and a pub. The surrounding country is typical West Cork: green fields, narrow roads, small farms. It's worth a quick stop if you're interested in the Ford connection. Otherwise the road west to Dunmanway or south to Clonakilty is just as fine.

Population

~300

Coords

51.6080° N, 8.8000° W

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Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

From Ballinascarty to Detroit

The Ford connection

John Ford, Henry's grandfather, left this parish in 1847. His grandson came back in 1912, drove out to the townland of Madame, and looked at the field his family had farmed. Ford later said Ireland was the country he felt most at home in outside America. Whether that sentimentality translated to anything practical for the locality is a separate question. A memorial stone marks the connection.