Carrickfergus, just 10 mi/16 km northeast of Belfast, is where the ancestors of both author Jonathan Swift and U.S. President Andrew Jackson lived. Plan a half-day visit in this town on Belfast Lough (lake) to see the Andrew Jackson Cottage and U.S. Rangers Centre, town museum and Elizabethan parish church (note the fine marble and alabaster monument). In our opinion, the castle at Carrickfergus is the best in Northern Ireland. http://www.carrickfergus.org.
