Killarney
House & Gardens GATEWAY TO THE
|
By Margaret O’Regan
Killarney is the place that launched a billion postcards. And now that postcards are a dying art form, it’s becoming the place that launched a billion tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram pics. At the heart of it all is the majestic Killarney National Park, which has attracted visitors and tourists for well over two hundred and fifty years. The Park covers 26,000 acres and includes the Muckross and Kenmare Estates, and stunning Lakes of Killarney. The Park contains a unique combination of picturesque lakes, mountains, ancient woodlands, wildlife and antiquities. This varied landscape includes the most extensive native woodlands in Ireland, lakes, rivers, blanket bog and heathland. It is home to a collection of plants and animals that live nowhere else in Northern Europe: Strawberry Tree, Kerry Slug, Irish Spurge, St Patrick’s Cabbage and the Killarney Fern. Killarney House dates from the 1700s and was originally the stable block of the 14
I KILLARNEY Magazine
2021
NATIONAL PARK
first residence of the Earls of Kenmare, the Browne family, but in the late 1950s it was bought by ‘The Man Who Built Washington’, Philadelphia’s John McShain, and his wife, Mary. It became the Irish home for the McShains and their daughter, Sr Pauline McShain. The family gifted Killarney House and its estate to the Irish people, to be incorporated into the Killarney National Park. The house and gardens have been carefully restored to their former glory and today you can enjoy a tour of the historic rooms and take in the beauty of the extensive pleasure gardens. The new interpretive exhibition is now the Gateway to Killarney National Park, and will lead you to discover more about this beautiful and diverse landscape and the work to protect it. Our National Park is the best of our natural inheritance, to cherish and protect as a legacy for future generations. Come and enjoy our little piece of ‘Heaven on Earth’: discover Killarney House and its beautiful gardens.
OPENING TIMES: 9.30am to 5.30pm (7 days a week) 8.30am to 7.30pm (July, Aug, Sept) Guided Tours Daily Tel: 076 100 2699 / 085 801 7973 www.killarneynationalpark.ie
