An Gorta Mor, or the Great Hunger, honors those who died in the Irish Potato Famine, which devastated Ireland from 1845 to 1850. After the potato crop failed for five successive years, Ireland's rural population was driven to near extinction. One million people died, and two million emigrated to escape the same fate, with most going to America. In Michigan, many Irish immigrants found lakes, streams, fertile fields, and abundant wildlife, and many settled in the area known as the Irish Hills, which reminded them of the homeland they had left. The memorial's central feature is a post-lintel structure of two limestone columns supporting a lintel, a former step from Penrose Quay in Cork Harbor, Ireland, suspended above a large empty bronze bowl symbolizing the great hunger. Around it are cobbles from Donegal, Ireland, encircled by a slate path representing the journey from Ireland to America. The surrounding hardscape shifts from a circle to a square bordered by pavers bearing the names of Ireland's thirty-two counties in English and Gaelic, with a stone from each county beneath its paver, while the four corners bear the names of the four provinces.