Blarney Stone

Shamrock, Texas

U.S. towns with Irish roots celebrate their origins with as much vigor as any of America's Switzerlands or German Sausage Capitals. Shamrock, Texas regularly rubs itself with Irish Good Luck, in the form of civic monuments and events to remember the Emerald Isle...

A fragment of the original Blarney Stone is immured within a concrete monument in the town's Blarney Stone Plaza. This genuine chunk from the ruins of Blarney Castle was accidentally knocked off of the original Stone -- at least according to the Shamrock official who brought it here in 1959. The chunk's arrival was so important that Shamrock's mayor called out the Texas Highway Patrol and the Texas National Guard, who reportedly stationed a sub-machine gunner atop the drug store as the Stone was wheeled into town.

The landmark is virtually unchanged today -- embedded in a theft-proof, pickup-truck-crash-proof cylinder, regularly painted solid green.

It doesn't make for great photos, unless a pretty local lass happens to stop by to lock lips with the Stone. To assure a steady supply, the town holds a festival each year; Miss Irish Rose is crowned around March 17.

The town still holds back on total commitment to the heritage theme: there are no local ordinances demanding the citizenry to wear green, and the water tower stands without a giant Leprechaun.

Other Blarney Stones can be smooched in Emmetsburg, Iowa; Irish Hills, Michigan; and at Fitzgerald's Casino Lucky Forest in Reno, Nevada.