Me, Tourist: The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum

I may not be kissing the Blarney Stone, but I am doing a few tourist-y things while in NI. I took a bus tour, as I’ve said; and I hope to visit a few castles as time goes on. Last week, I went with the other Internationals to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. I hope to go to the Ulster Museum and the Giant’s Causeway later this week, at which time I'll update this entry.

“The people have long gone and their homes have decayed. But the spirit of the past lives on and remains around us.” - from a sign in one of the reconstructed houses

The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is made up of both indoor and outdoor exhibits. The outdoor areas are, basically, the same style of thing as the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA. Houses from different areas of the country have been moved and reconstructed to portray a rural, working-class town of about 1900. There weren’t many people there, either employees or visitors, because this is a low point in the season – but it was worth the visit all the same. It looks the way people in the States think Ireland looks: the green hills, the sheep, the little white houses with thatched roofs.

There were a lot of small townhouses, and several farms and workshops:




Carpenter's

 




Cobbler's

 




Wool to be shipped out by train

 




Outside the basket-maker's

 




Blacksmith's

 




Ballydown National School

 

 The Internationals from urban areas were fascinated by the farm animals: chickens, a friendly pig, and two donkeys.

A nice lady at the Old Rectory gave us fresh-baked soda bread with butter.

We went into the church, the bank, the petty court – where framed past cases hung on the walls, my favourite being:

“ALLEGED LARCENY OF BOOTS”

...  belonging to one John Murphy, a labourer. One Archibald Martin was arrested and, as he turned up in court wearing said boots, was imprisoned for a week.

In the reading room, we got to browse through huge albums of old newspapers:

The museum was followed by a trip to IKEA. The IKEA is one of the largest buildings in the city, and certainly the largest store. It has its own café. I took a cab home, with two others – Jessica from Canada, who lives upstairs from me, and Mellissa, another student from the States. I’d only been in a taxi in New York City before, and was pleasantly surprised that the cab drivers here stay on the road and pay attention to traffic signals.

Next post soon!