NorthPoint Productions and Photography
Photography and Videography by Frederick A. Dudderar Jr.
Scotland
Grandmother Mary Chalmers emigrated from Scotland to the United States as a young girl. Most of us have returned to Scotland to trace our Celtic roots. What we discovered was that the Chalmers were part of Clan Cameron.
Cameron country is located in Lochaber, which lies astride the south-western end of Glenalbyn, or “the Great Glen,” as it is often called. The Great Glen divides the Highlands into two parts; to the south, the Southern Highlands, comprising the Grampian and Monadhliath ranges; to the north, the Northern and Western Highlands. The county is mountainous by UK standards, with some of the hills rising to over 4,000 feet. Ben Nevis, near Fort William, is the highest mountain in Britain at 4,406 feet.
To the west lies the small coastal town of Oban, which is a popular place to hop a ferry to many of the Western Isles, including the Isle of Mull and “the Sacred Isle” of Iona. Iona has been described as the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. St. Columba and 12 companions came here from Ireland in AD 563. The monastery they founded was one of the most important and influential in the British Isles, and sent missionaries to northern Britain to convert people to Christianity. Columba’s fame has brought pilgrims to Iona since the 7th century.