March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day, which was originally the annual feast of the best known of Ireland’s patron saints¹, and today a worldwide celebration devoted to all things Irish.

Over here in Ireland and the UK, we have been known to celebrate with vast quantities of Guinness. Over in the US however, they like large scale annual celebrations involving crazy things like temporarily dying the Chicago River green (which sadly hasn’t yet been captured on Google Earth²).

But in today’s post we’ll be looking at some of the places that St. Patrick has found a permanent home in the USA.

This is St Patrick’s park in Indiana, where they have created a 400 metre long homage to their namesake, entirely in the medium of trees. Which is apt, given how much of the colour green gets bandied around on the 17th of March.

We’ve visited the original Dublin already on Google Sightseeing, but there are at least nine cities called Dublin in the USA alone!

See for yourself: Dublin, California; Dublin, Georgia; Dublin, Indiana; Dublin, New Hampshire; Dublin, North Carolina; Dublin, Ohio; Dublin, Pennsylvania; Dublin, Texas; and Dublin, Virginia.

In New York City we find St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a spectacular Neo-Gothic cathedral in midtown Manhattan that has become ingrained in Hollywood movie history, after being featured in several movies including 2002’s Spider-Man.

So, where else has St. Patrick and the influence of Ireland made a lasting impression around the world?

Happy Paddy’s day!

Thanks to Chris R.

Like the rest of the world at the moment, it’s obvious that the 2200 residents of Santa Claus, Indiana, are totally immersed in the Christmas spirit.

Originally named Santa Fe, the town had to change its name in 1856 when it applied for a post office only to discover that there was already another town with that name in the state. Wanting to keep the first part of the name, Santa Claus was the only thing the citizens could think of, though this history has since been embellished with tales of small children, snowy evenings and sleigh bells.

The town exploits its name as much as possible, with streets (Mistletoe Drive, Candy Cane Lane, not to mention a road for each of the reindeer), lakes (Christmas, Holly and Noel) and entire subdivisions (Christmas Lake Village, Holiday Village) following the theme.

Holiday World is North America’s oldest themed amusement park, having opened in 1946 as Santa Claus Land. The name now reflects the move to celebrate holidays (and attract visitors) throughout the year. The park includes numerous rollercoasters and other rides, as well as the Splashin’ Safari waterpark, with the world’s largest enclosed water slide.

The post office mentioned earlier (which is now located in a small mall, complete with Santa outside) came to notice in 1914 when the postmaster James Martin started to answer letters addressed to Santa Claus. Today, a team of volunteers respond to around 10,000 letters sent to Santa Claus from children around the world. The Santa Claus Museum is a couple of doors down.

Rather than the usual fare of flowerbeds, ponds or garden gnomes, Lloyd “Tud” Krohn decorates his garden with handmade aircraft.

The 1/16 scale models include a V-22 Osprey, B-17 Flying Fortress, P-38 Lightning, C-130 Hercules and an Apache helicopter.

Mr Krohn (I’m afraid I can’t bring myself to call him “Tud”) started building these odd garden ornaments over 17 years ago but, so far, nobody has figured out exactly why…

More info from Fox41 and ground level pictures on RC Groups. Thanks to sixftjafp.

Here at the Sun Aura resort in Indiana, they have just what you’ve always wanted - a 19 metre (63 foot) long sundial, in the shape of a lady’s naked leg. Classy!

And for what reason? Well, Sun Aura is a “clothing optional” holiday camp, and presumably a giant sundial is a useful feature for wristwatchless nudists… Which means there must be some naked people around here somewhere!

Thanks to Ken.

More at roadsideamerica.

The 2nd largest clock in the world is supposedly the Colgate clock, atop the Colgate-Palmolive factory in Indiana. The clock was built way back in 1906 when it originally sat on Colgate’s New Jersey facility, before being moved here in 1924.

The 1st largest clock in the world is also the Colgate clock. This one replaced the above clock at the now defunct New Jersey offices, but after Colgate left the area in the 1980s it sits alone on the waterfront.

The claims of “largest in the world” for each is disputable, and both clocks are facing an uncertain future as developers move into each area.

The similarities don’t end there - after the Indiana clock starred in the 1999 film The Insider, the New Jersey clock starred in the 2006 flick Inside Man. Spooky.

Thanks: Ironguts & James

Wikipedia: Indiana Clock & New Jersey Clock