Western Ireland Tour, Day 5:  Coole Park

When Isabella Augusta Persse married Sir William Gregory, to become Lady Gregory, she became the Lady of Coole Park, Sir William's magnificent estate near Gort in Co. Galway.  With the beginning of the Irish Literary Revival, Coole Park and Lady Gregory became the centerpiece of the movement.  Gregory offered comfort and respite to the Irish poets, particularly Yeats, who visited Coole every summer for 20 years.  In addition, Coole Park was the site of Gregory's own creative efforts and energies.  Here she collected the stories, myths, and folklore that filled her many books; here she wrote her fine plays that filled the Abbey theatre in Dublin; and here she dealt with the grief from the death of her only son, Robert, and watched as Ireland moved decisively into the 20th century.  At her death, Coole was the property of the government, and eventually her fine house was razed and the furnishings auctioned.  Today Coole Park stands as a poignant tribute to a great writer, and a haunting reminder of the past that once was.

The stairs to Lady Gregory's house--all that remains of the ancestral home.

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