Michael Brittingham is a retired instructor with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M. Ed in Educational Psychology. His teaching experience included mathematics, physical science, computer programming  and software, physics, photography, and journalism, for secondary schools, community college and UVA. His  interests are British cars, local history, and Clann Mhòr. http://brittsminis.com/

Dan Burke is semi-retired after a construction career and then co-owner with his wife of Emerald Artisans, an Irish import boutique in Charlottesville, VA. Researching his own heritage as well as frequent travel to Ireland has fostered a deep love and appreciation of the rich history of Ireland and her people.  This project has provided a wonderful opportunity to discover more about the Irish immigrants who came in search of a better life, and then went to work building America.  He hopes that with the telling of their stories, their accomplishments will be long remembered.

Kevin Donleavy is a scholar of Irish cultural history. He is a past Resident Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, has taught courses at the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia, and was a lecturer-panelist at the "Re-Imagining Ireland" conference in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2003. Material from the Blue Ridge railway project will appear in his upcoming book, The Irish in Early Virginia, 1600-1850. His first book, Strings of Life: Conversations with Old-Time Musicians (2004), focused on traditional music of Virginia, North Carolina, and Ireland.

Rhonda Roebuck is a retired teacher from Western Albemarle High School where she taught Photography and Digital Imaging.  She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alabama.  She has taught workshops on creating collages and keeping a nature journal.  Her collages and journals can be seen on her website:

http://web.mac.com/rhondaroebuck/Site/Rhonda_Roebuck.html

Marjorie Maxey is a biology teacher with thirty years experience at Western Albemarle High School, located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Railroad area. Once finding out about our research project, she quickly became hooked to discover more. Having lived and worked in Crozet for decades, she has always been interested in railroads, as her late father was a railroad worker. As she says “I think I must have some Irish ancestors who are calling out to me to get involved.”

Members of Clann Mhor :