The Bottom Line
Pros
- Interesting local history museum.
- Spans time from stone age to the 20th century.
- Many illustrative artifacts and models.
- Challenging the student of Irish by providing panels mainly in the native langage.
Cons
- Can seem parochial to some visitors.
Description
- Local museum of the Corca Dhuibne Gaeltacht.
- Housed in the old school of Ballyferriter and open during the main tourist season.
- Displays are varied and well thought out, the museum should even keep kids interested.
Guide Review - Musaem Chorca Dhuibne (Ballyferriter, County Kerry)
I have to admit that I prefer three-dimensional displays to walls plastered with texts and illustrations. And that I think that if an original is not available a model is worth more than a thousand pictures. Maybe that's why I took an immediate liking to the Musaem Chorca Dhuibne. From Saint Brendan's boat to the Tralee and Dingle Railway everything is found under the roof of the old schoolhouse of Ballyferriter. In model form. Alongside smaller artifacts from history.
"Smaller" being relative, as the massive "famine soup pot" used in communal kitchens will illustrate. And "history" can be as large an event as the 1916 Easter Rising (represented through a British bayonet used by a local Irish Volunteer) or sports (O'Connor's medals).
It is a diverse but not haphazardly scattered collection - and you may even go interactive with the aid of Computers, trying your had at Ogham script.
Mentioning script, Irish is definitely the first language in this museum and texts seem to be more detailed than the English translation. A bit like "subtitles" at the cinema - you get the gist but you'll get more out of it if you speak the local lingo.
