“Follow your passion. Take advantage of the time you have to pursue something you love to do.” ~Chris McNamee

From Building Homes for Others to Creating a Castle of Her Own

Have you ever met someone and thought, “This person didn’t just live life, she built it with passion and love.”

That’s Chris McNamee.

Born in Rockville Centre and now living in Medford, Chris, lovingly called “Birdie” by her grandchildren, is as unique as this name. She is the kind of woman who excels in her life wherever it leads. It’s taken her from photo labs to daycare classrooms, from horror movie sets to Habitat for Humanity job sites, and eventually to something that feels like it came straight out of a storybook.

She built a castle. Yes. A real one. Right here on Long Island.

Chris has never been someone who stays in one lane.

She spent 18 years working in a professional photo lab, preserving precious memories from weddings and bar mitzvahs back when photos were held in your hands, not stored in the cloud. When that chapter closed, she didn’t panic. She pivoted. In 1997, she opened Kid-n-Kaboodle Daycare in Baldwin, caring for children (including her own) for 12 beautiful years and earning awards for outstanding service.

She has always believed in growth. A strong student, foreign language major, and 5th in her graduating class at Uniondale High School, Chris continued her education throughout her life, earning degrees all the way through a master’s degree. Learning wasn’t something she finished. It was something she lived.

Practical, capable, and creative, she learned home repair skills from her mother. Chris was one of seven siblings in a family where you figured things out and helped one another. That foundation led her to work with Habitat for Humanity in New Jersey, helping build homes for families in need, and later returning to Long Island where she rose to Senior Director of Construction for this nonprofit organization. She’s now retired from that role but clearly not from making things happen.

Here’s where it gets even better. In the 1980s, Chris starred in independent “splatter” horror films like Street Trash, exploring a completely different side of her creativity. Around that same time, she learned to play drums and was in an all-female band called Rude Girls. Today, she still plays drums at open mic jams.

In 2014, Chris bought an old, outdated condo in Medford. Most people would have updated the kitchen and called it a day. But not Chris. She dramatically turned it into Mac Con Midhe Castle, the original Gaelic spelling of her last name.

Inspired by her lifelong love of castles and stone churches, she poured her heart and her knowledge into transforming the two-story, three-bedroom home into a medieval, Gothic dream. She researched endlessly, sourced authentic pieces, and filled the space with furnishings from the 1800s.

Chris lovingly repurposed a door from a castle in London into a stunning dining room table where stories are now shared.

She formed an LLC so she could share her magical space with others.

Mac Con Midhe Castle isn’t just her home. It’s a place where people gather to experience its unique atmosphere.

Chris hosts bands that want to make music videos, murder mystery dinners, psychic nights, group and individual tours, family portrait sessions, and she is open to other suggestions.

Chris didn’t wait for the “right time.”
She didn’t say, “Maybe someday.”

She followed what fascinated her. She learned new things. She built with her hands. She tried things that were unusual, creative, even a little bold.

And now? She lives in a castle she created — not in Ireland, not in a movie — but right here on Long Island.

That’s not just decorating.

That’s living with imagination.

We don’t all need to build castles.

But Chris reminds us we can build lives that feel magical, meaningful, and completely our own.

If you are interested in touring the castle or hosting an event, email Chris at MacConMidheCastle@outlook.com, via messenger on Facebook under Chris McNamee or Mac Con Midhe Castle, or on Instagram under the same names.