Kissing the Blarney Stone, riding a horse through the lakes and valleys of Killarney, posing at the Giants Causeway - the Kennedy family did all this and more during trips to Ireland in the 1930s.

In June 1963, JFK became the first sitting US president to visit Ireland. There are many gorgeous photos of the trip to Ireland, which would sadly be his last, all of them imbued with a sense of respect, awe, and history in the making.

Photos from the Kennedy family's trips to Ireland in the 1930s could not be more different. They're the classic tourist photos that any family who's taken a trip to Ireland and seen the major attractions has: kissing the Blarney Stone, walking the streets of Dublin, posing at the Giants Causeway, riding a horse through the lakes and valleys of Killarney. Many of the photos are candid or surreptitious shots, some are blurry, smudged, or out of focus.

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Plucked from the Kennedy family's photo albums they were digitized and stored for posterity in the archives of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

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The greatest number of photos come from a trip Kennedy matriarch Rose took with her eldest son, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., and fourth child Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy in July and August of 1937.

Read More: The extraordinary story of Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr - JFK's older brother who wanted to be president

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They made stops in Dublin, at the Dublin Horse Show and Killiney. They traveled to Blarney Castle and Garnish Island in Cork, to Killarney in County Kerry, and to the Giants Causeway in Antrim before traveling on to Scotland.

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Photos from this trip also include the kind of snaps you'd take today: of the landscape, of locals, of famous sights.

Read More: The scandalous, rebellious, and tragic life of JFK's sister Kick remembered

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One year later, the eldest Kennedy daughter, Rosemary, toured Ireland with family friend Betty Rice and an Irish woman named Dorothy Smyth, whom the Kennedys hired to be Rosemary's chaperone for the trip.

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These photos of the Kennedy children smiling, laughing, enjoying the Irish countryside, are all the more poignant when you consider their moment in time.

Three years later, in 1941, Rosemary would undergo the frontal lobotomy that left her in need of constant care for the rest of her life.

Read More: Tragic letters sent by Rosemary Kennedy to the young Irish woman who cared for her

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In 1944, Joe Kennedy, Jr. died while flying a secret bomber mission in WWII.

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And in 1948, Kick Kennedy perished in a plane crash en route to the French Riviera with the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam to seek approval for their marriage from her father, Joe, Sr.

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These photos in Ireland capture more carefree and happy times and are an important testament to the enduring connection between the Kennedy family and Ireland.

View the rest below. For more Kennedy family stories, visit our dedicated topic page.

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* Originally published in July 2019.