From the Maiden City to Derry, NH

By Freya McClements
BBC News

The Maiden City is the namesake for towns across America

No matter how far you travel, there's no place like home - unless of course your trip takes in Derry, New Hampshire, Derry, Pennsylvania, or even Londonderry, Vermont.

Derry - or Londonderry - is the namesake for a host of American towns ranging from mountain ski resorts to former coal mining settlements, all descendents of the original city by the Foyle.

The best-known is Derry, New Hampshire - a "large size town with a small town feel", according to the town's municipal website.

A prime commuter town for Boston, Derry is an hour from the coast and an hour from the White Mountains.

And forget Seamus Heaney or John Hume - in New Hampshire, Derry is famous as the birthplace of American astronaut Alan Shepard and the location of poet Robert Frost's farm.

The town was founded almost 300 years ago, when a Presbyterian congregation from County Derry emigrated to the States.

Freedom

Frank Kerry, from the Monreagh Ulster-Scots Heritage and Education Centre in County Donegal, said the emigrants left to find greater religious freedom and to escape rising rents and a series of bad harvests in Ireland.

"They originally settled in Nutfield, New Hampshire, and later renamed it Londonderry.

"Many of the emigrants who went out had taken part in the Siege of Derry, and the legend is that one of their leaders, Reverend McGregor, was supposed to have fired the cannon that let everyone know the boom across the river had broken, which of course ended the siege," he said.

Global namesake Derry is also the name of townlands in Armagh, Down and Fermanagh Londonderry is a suburb in New South Wales, a community in Nova Scotia, and a village in North Yorkshire Londonderry Island is situated in Tierra del Fuego, Chile The River Derry is in County Wicklow Derry was the name of a fictional town in Maine used by Stephen King as a setting for many of his works

But even across the Atlantic, some things don't change.

Just a stone's throw away across the busy Route 93 lies the town of Derry - formed after the original town split over a 19th century dispute which culminated in half the residents decamping across the road to set up their own town.

Both Derry and Londonderry are served by the "Derry News".

Some recent top stories - a local man appears in court accused of 'burgularizing' the home of a Derry firefighter, and the winner of the Miss Greater Derry beauty pageant is to be crowned on Friday.

The paper's editor, Bill Gilman, said there was "definitely a rivalry" between the two towns.

"They're pretty much divided by the interstate route.

"Londonderry would be more affluent, more of a commuter town, whereas Derry is more of a mix - there are people who've lived in that town forever, but there's also a blend of newcomers, urban folks from Massachusetts and more varied economic, social and minority groups.

"Londonderry is also more sectioned off into districts - it has a retail district and a historic district which is 300 years old, though that's young for you guys in Ireland," laughed Mr Gilman.

"There's been rivalry between the football teams of the two schools for a long time, and each season they have a week-long, head-to-head competition in lots of different sports.

The colonial-style Derry News office in New Hampshire

"There's also a bit of rivalry politically - even though the two towns are similar, with fairly strong traditional conservative values, they don't tend to co-operate very much politically," he said.

While the original emigrants were glad to leave Ireland behind them - "they were glad to away from the place they had left", according to Frank Kerry - Bill Gilman believes local residents are proud of their link to the Maiden City.

"Most people are familiar with how the towns are named.

"There is one funny link with Derry, in that I get at least three or four emails a day that are intended for the editor of the Derry Journal.

"The other day I got an invitation to a dinner and I explained that while I'd really love to come, the travelling expenses might be a bit much!

"We also were sent a photograph from Thornhill College in November, when they participated in a mock election, and we put that in the paper.

"I think folks here do enjoy that connection, and I'd like to see an official relationship between the two places.

"I think it would be beneficial and rewarding for all concerned," said Mr Gilman.

Frank Kerry agrees.

"I always thought the links between the two towns should have been developed.

"And of course there are the economic possibilities.

"You don't know who might be out there in one of those small towns waiting to invest," he said.