Evidence the Irish found West Virginia before Columbus found America

[Petrushka]

http://appalachianmagazine.com/2014/10/05/evidence-the-irish-found-west-virginia-before-columbus-found-america/

[LuvNewcastle]

1. That's amazing, if true.

Even if the Irishmen were able to cross the Atlantic, it would have been quite a feat for them to have made it so far inland down Indian trails and through the forests and mountains without encountering hostile natives or wildlife. If they can find more evidence to back this up, it's one hell of a story.

[hedgehog]

3. The natives wouldn't neccessarily have been hostile.

But , IIRC, no other men are mentioned in Brenden's voyages, so if he landed on the East Coast, they may have just chosen not to interact with him.

[No Vested Interest]

2. Likely it was St. Brendan the Navigator.

Much mythology surrounds his voyages, but he did exist and did sail and visit places far removed from Ireland.
Wouldn't surprise me at all that he had visited what is now West Virginia.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. And they didn't teach the indians about whiskey????

[bpollen]

7. They probably didn't teach them about whiskey because

St. Brendan was dead for hundreds of years before it was invented... Brendan died in the 6th century, and the first written record of whiskey comes from early in the 15th century.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. It's like on "The Hobbit" when I noticed Bilbo strike a match...

The first actual match was invented in 1805.

[Oakenshield]

5. So that makes two then?

Leif Eriksson beat Columbus to America as well.

[aquart]

10. Check out Secrets of the Dead for Carthaginians in the Americas.

And Cycladic statuary

[C Moon]

6. I thought it was going to be a broken beer bottle. :)

I'm Irish, btw.

[gladium et scutum]

9. Probably got lost

while trying to pay a visit to the Norse living at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland.