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.

The Ulster-Scots and Roots Travel in Northern Ireland

As a travel agent, I am always interested in learning more about different places and cultures. This coincides well with my interest in roots travel.

This week I found out more about a group of people called the Ulster Scots. These people were from the lowlands of Scotland but moved to Ulster (the settlements were called the Plantation of Ulster) in Northern Ireland. Eventually most of them moved to America. It's a fascinating story, one that highlights the history between Ireland and Great Britain.

I recommend learning more, especially if you think you might have Ulster-Scot heritage. You can find out more about the Ulster-Scots from the great article I read. Or you can go to the website for the Ulster-Scots Society of America or the very informative Ulster-Scots Agency website. The BBC even has a website devoted to the Ulster Scots at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ulsterscots/. Finally, there's a great and informative website put together by the Ulster-Scots Agency on the Plantation of Ulster.

Naturally, this got me wondering whether there was a museum in Northern Ireland dedicated to these Ulster-Scots. Such a museum would be a great place to start one's roots travel. Turns out there is one: the Monreagh Ulster-Scots Irish Heritage and Education Centre in County Donegal. This museum would be a must-stop visit on anyone with Ulster-Scot heritage visiting Northern Ireland.

For a more general look at emigration from Ulster, one could also visit the Ulster American Folk Park. While this living history museum does not focus on the Ulster-Scots, it does talk about the experience of emigration from Ulster to America, so it is definitely a helpful place to get closer to your ancestor's experiences.

It never ceases to amaze me how much history there is around the world. The Ulster-Scots are a part of history I had never heard of, but I am now thinking of including it on an Irish heritage tour I am planning. Not only because I think that Northern Ireland would be a great place to travel, but also because I think it would be a great place to do roots travel for anyone with Irish or Ulster-Scot ancestry. Only by learning about all the different aspects of a country's history can one truly understand their ancestors.

Living History Museums: Museum of Welsh Life

In an earlier post, I wrote about Living History Museums and the benefit they can be to your roots travel. One of the museums I mentioned was the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans, Wales. This post will review that excellent museum.

The Museum of Welsh Life is, in my opinion, an absolute necessary stop on any Welsh roots travel itinerary. The museum reviews Welsh life at home and work over the last five hundred years. Located just west of Cardiff, the museum is on the grounds of St Fagans Castle on about 105 acres.

The museum has two parts: the galleries and the museum grounds. Both should be visited by anyone with Welsh ancestry.

The galleries include farm vehicles and implements, Welsh costumes and textiles, Welsh instruments, folk customs, and much more. It is a great overview of Welsh custom and culture that will really connect the roots traveler with their ancestors.

The highlight of a visit to the museum, though, is the museum grounds. The grounds include numerous buildings from around Wales. These buildings come from different time periods and regions and have been painstakingly reconstructed on the grounds of the museum. The visitor can see a typical pigsty, bee shelter, farmhouses, cottage, church, and even a row of iron worker's houses. These are just a few of the buildings represented.

Walking through the museum and its grounds is like gaining access to the time of your ancestors. For anyone who wants to connect with their Welsh ancestry, I definitely recommend the Museum of Welsh Life as a stop on their vacation.

Museum of Welsh Life website: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2240/

Living History Museums - A Great Way to Connect With Ancestors

Roots travel is about connections. Connections with place and connections with people. At living history museums, you can find both those connections in abundant supply.

A living history museum is a museum that recreates life in a certain place at a certain time period, often with museum employees in costume dress, ready to answer your questions.  If you have ancestors from that place and time period, it is one of the best ways of better understanding how those ancestors lived. You can see the way they dressed, ate, and lived, all in one museum. If there is a living history museum near your planned itinerary, you should definitely consider taking the time to visit.

Below are just a few living history museums to consider if you are in the area -

• Mayflower/Pilgrim Ancestors - Plimoth Plantation -http://www.plimoth.org/
• Wales - St. Fagans National History Museum - http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2240/
• England - Beamish - http://www.beamish.org.uk/Home.aspx
• Norway - Norsk Folkemuseum - http://www.norskfolkemuseum.no/en/
• Northern Ireland - Ulster Folk Museum and/or the Ulster American Folk Park - http://www.nmni.com/uafp

The list could go on and on - the above are just a few examples.  Next time you plan on traveling, check to see if there is a living history museum in the area. You won't regret it.

If you have a living history museum you've visited and particularly enjoyed, please let us know in the comments.