Page 177 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

“My real love affair with it began when I met the man or heard what happened and he certainly was not for
who became my father-in-law, William John Purdy,” telling anyone about this little adventure. Imagine his
confessed Rodgers. “A proud Ulster-Scot from the surprise to read of his misfortune in the local paper a
coast, he talked about his family, his parents and his short time later. There are no secrets on the Causeway.”
siblings and told wonderful stories of his life in the Rodgers continued to absorb the stories. “He [Wil-
most beguiling fashion. liam John] spoke of the tram, the hotels, the tea room,
“He had a quiet nature, soft spoken, with the ability to the shops, the boatmen, fishermen, gypsies, ice cream
draw you in like a moth to a flame with a soft County sellers, fortune tellers, names, noises, folk and voice
Antrim accent and a twinkle in his eye. A yarn became that I have never known,” conveyed Rodgers. And, then,
the most wonderful adventure . . . his pride in knowing the question, “Where did it all go?”
where he came from and how that shaped and formed
everything he did.”
Rodgers told of William John’s father, Alex, who was Above: The stories of Rodgers
the “first man in history to ride a pony and trap [car- charm young and old. Although
riage] on the Causeway. [He would guide] folk down to this is the story of his ancestors,
the old Rodden track, past the tea rooms and souvenir “the Causeway belongs to no one,”
shops, down to the Martin’s house to see the stones says Rogers. “It is everyone’s to
and then bring them up again. see and enjoy. It is our home and
“On one occasion, the pony got too excited and went we belong here.”
over the bray and turned the trap o’er the body into
Janes Bay. Thankfully, there was no guests in the trap,
and Alex survived. He thought that no one had seen

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