From Iowa to Ireland: Day 5- Sep. 7- Fountain House- Macroom, Cork co.

Day 5 was a very exciting day for all of us. When we were at Dungarvan Castle the day before, a man told us that we could do ancestry research at the local library. Thankfully, he gave us directions, as the library sign was all in Gaelic. :) But, at least, the people inside spoke English.

The lady that helped Gram was so sweet! She went above and beyond to help us find our long lost relatives.

A couple hours later, we found them! The last name Dalton had been misspelled and once we figured that out, the lady started finding our ancestors right away. She found records for John and Margaret Dalton, Gram's great-great Grandparents, where they lived and other ancestors. Gram was just beside herself with joy (not to mention the rest of us)! This was a dream of a lifetime come true!

After we left Dungarvan, we were supposed to go to Blarney Castle, but we all forgot about that. :) Along the road we saw a sign for a Ballyscourt Castle (which is probably what banished all thought of Blarney). So, of course, we had to stop to see another castle! The pictures are down below...

Our next destination was Cobh (cove) aka, Queenstown, a cozy seaport village. Gram's great grandma, Mary Dalton, sailed out of Cobh to America between the ages of 19-21.

We talked to a man there that was helping to trace emigrants from Ireland. But, sadly, he wasn't able to help us since we didn't know which port she sailed in to America. Oh, well, at least we tried.

There were small restaurants, shops and museums inside the big building that we were in, so we ate lunch there and did some shopping.

Famine Museums... If you were to mention those 2 words to any of us, you would hear a deep groan. We tried throughout our whole stay in Ireland to go see the museums dedicated to the great potato famine, and without fail, we missed every single one... (you'll here more about this on a future post). The best famine museum was located in Cobh, but sadly, we decided not to go to it because of the really, really long flight of stairs that led up to it.

*All the pictures from the library and Cobh are from Gram. She graciously sent them to me since Abi and I seem to have missed those opportunities for photography.*

A Beautiful Morning

The sunrise was just breathtaking at Sea View!

Tide

The tide was coming in.

Deer

I didn't see these deer, but Mom and Abi did. I'm glad they got a few shots at them.

Intersection

Another scary intersection while on the way back to Dungarvan.

Knockroe

Gram is pointing on a boundary map to where her ancestors lived and where the Kilgobnet church was located. They lived in a small area called "Knockroe". Knock means a hill, so it basically means "Hillroe".

Barryscourt Castle

This castle wasn't as neat as Blarney, but it was a nice substitute.

Forward, me knights!

Carriage House

The carriage house had a cute little restaurant inside, but it was closed due to it being almost out of tourist season.

Solid

Our tour guide told us that those iron circles on the door are from big spikes that were installed to repel the enemy. I think that I'd steer clear of that door!

Alcove

Courtyard

This is a panoramic of the Castle's courtyard.

Stronghold

Notice the door that is toward the right on the castle? That's the door that had the iron spikes.

Moss

This was a mossy stairway in the wall.

Black and White

Snail

To demonstrate it's size, that's my hand.

Flora

Rose

Bee

See if you can spot the hideous inch worm! :)

Paradise

I waited a long time to get this shot! There was a bench right at the end of the path, so people kept sitting there, right in my picture! :)

Cobwebby

Thistle

I think this was a thistle flower.

Archaic

Slots

Notice the arrow slots?

Group

We're inside the castle finally! This was our group... Our tour guide is the man in the black jacket and pants.

Room

Kitchen

I think I'll hold it...

Interesting bit of info, that little cupboard space straight on was where they stored the "toilet paper". Someone would go out every day and gather moss and other similar flora for the daily toilet paper.

Family Room

That line on the wall just above the windows used to be a balcony that ran around the entire room. The lady of the castle would come out a small doorway, which you can just barely see on the wall above the red and white curtain, to look out on any festivities.

Original Fireplace

Tallow Candle

Banquet Table

Lord and Lady's Bed

The lord and lady's bed was very interesting. I'll start with the canopy; the canopy was used to protect the sleepers from creepy crawlies falling from the hay loft above them where all their children slept. The bed curtains were used to retain the heat in the bed and to keep drafts away. The bed was also very short length-wise. The castle dwellers used to have a lot of upper respiratory problems because of the damp and mold so they slept sitting up. They also believed that if they were lying down, the grim reaper might think they were dead and take them... Sad to think that they had to live in such fear, what a life without Jesus' peace!

Cradle

When the lady was expecting, she would go up to their bedroom for the remaining six weeks of pregnancy. There she would stay for six more weeks after the baby was born. Could you imagine... 12 weeks in one room! Since their bedroom was on the top floor, I'm sure taking those stairs every day would wear her out pretty fast, but still, 12 weeks!!!

Trip Step

In most castles they have what's called a trip step in the main stairway. A trip step is made a little higher than the rest of the steps, designed to trip invaders up, giving the castle dwellers those few extra moments to prepare. Well, in this stairway's case, it was tripping too many tourists up (even though they'd been warned), so they had to block it off and make another tourist safe stairway. :)

Ship

This great big ship greeted us as we drove into Cobh.

Time Warp

This was the old depot in Cobh were Mary Dalton embarked on her journey. This building had restaurants, museums, gift shops, vendors, etc, probably almost the way it was way back then.

Luggage Cart

Ladies

I'm not sure what these ladies represented, but they were all dressed in black and white period clothing, complete with hats and gloves. I think that some people thought that we were with them. :)