About Glencolmcille Folk Village

The Folk Village Museum was the initiative of a dynamic Donegal priest, Father James McDyer. It opened in 1967 with three cottages, built and furnished in just three months through local community effort.

At the time of Father McDyer’s arrival in 1951 the parish of Glencolmcille was suffering from a long-standing cycle of unemployment and emigration. Over the next three decades Father McDyer worked to help break this cycle, lobbying for amenities, organising community projects and supporting the development of local industries, many of which, like the Folk Village, are still successful today.

New cottages and exhibits have been added over the years, and the Folk Village Museum is still very much a community concern. Local people regularly donate time, expertise, artifacts, stories and photographs. On a human scale, tucked into a rocky hillside, the Folk Village offers visitors a warm Donegal welcome and an intimate experience of a past way of life.

The Folk Village Museum offers an excellent guided tour for the visitor. In the tour you will experience life as it was in the 1700’s, 1800's and 1900’s. Our thatched cottage are exact replicas of those belonging to that era and are furnished accordingly. Take a look at how our ancestors lived, cooked, the beds they lay on, the tools they used, their means of lighting and heat. For those of you who can trace your ancestors to Ireland, this is an ideal opportunity to see rural life at first hand. Cottages