Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Ireland

If you want to get to know your ancestors, one of the best ways to do so is through a living history museum. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park is a living history museum in western Ireland near Limerick.  If you have Irish ancestry, you should definitely plan on making a stop here to learn more about your heritage.

One room house of a landless laborer

The grounds of the museum are extensive, with buildings from different time periods and different levels of income. I found the one room cottage of a landless labourer especially interesting, as it was such a humble and small cottage, with only a fireplace and a bed. The schoolhouse was also interesting, with boys and girls separated into the two halves of the school.

Other buildings include eight different farmhouses (there is even one where the animals lived on one side of the room and the people on the other), a village street and a working pub.

Unfortunately, when I went there were not very many actors to bring the village to life. I visited in March, but apparently there are more during the tourist season.

So if you are in Ireland, plan a stop here. Also, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park is a stop on the April 2012 itinerary of Family Roots Travel's Irish Ancestry and Heritage Tour. You can find out more about the tour by clicking the link. If you would like to learn more about the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, you can visit the website here.