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THE sun shone for a group of 40 from the Filoli Estate in Woodside, California, on the occasion of their visit to Muckross House. They travelled to Ireland as part of their centennial celebration and the main thrust of their tour was to visit Muckross.

The group was composed mainly of interested member/volunteers, most of who knew of Muckross but had never been there. The group included the Executive Director, Kara Newport, Collections Manager, Julie DeVere, Centennial Committee member Emily Newell and present and past Presidents of their Board. Filoli was built for Mr and Mrs William Bowers Bourn, prominent San Franciscans whose chief source of wealth was the Empire Mine, a gold mine in California.

Mr Bourn was also owner and president of the Spring Valley Water Company whose property comprised Crystal Springs Lake and the surrounding lands. Because of its similarity to the country setting of Muckross, the Bourns wanted to have an estate built along Crystal Springs Lake.

The Bourns’ daughter, Maud, married Arthur Rose Vincent of Summerhill, Cloonlara, Co Clare, in March 1910. In November 1910, William Bowers Bourn purchased Muckross House and its surrounding 11,000 acres for their daughter and new son-in-law.

They immediately began plans for developing the gardens at Muckross and continued to be involved in the property's maintenance and upkeep. The Bourns were frequent visitors to Muckross and became enamoured with the beautiful Irish country setting.

Construction of Filoli began in 1915 and the Bourns moved into the House in 1917. Mr Bourn arrived at the unusual name Filoli by combining the first two letters from the key words of his credo: “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.”
On February 12, 1929, following an Atlantic crossing on route to California with her two children to visit her ailing father, Maud Vincent died in New York City of pneumonia.

Her body was brought across country by train to Filoli and she was buried in a cemetery created on top of a small knoll to the west overlooking the House and valley.

After the death of his daughter, Mr Bourn gradually retired from the business world. The Empire Mine was sold and a year later the Spring Valley Water Company was sold to the City of San Francisco.

In 1932 the Bourns and their son-in-law, Arthur Vincent, presented Muckross House and the surrounding 11,000 acres of land to the Irish Nation as a memorial to Maud Bourn Vincent. The estate became the first national park in Ireland. Visited by thousands of tourists each year, the house and surrounding gardens are known as the Bourn-Vincent Memorial Park, part of the now wider Killarney National Park. Mr and Mrs Bourn died in 1936.

Now operated by Filoli Center, the 654-acre estate is a California State Historic Landmark and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. This outstanding showcase of early 20th-century architecture and garden design can be enjoyed by the public during much of the year.

The group were welcomed to Muckross House by the Trustees general manager, Denis Reidy, and the NPWS guide staff, led by Anne Tangney.
 

 
Above: A group from the Filoli Estate in Woodside, California at Muckross House, Killarney, with Trustees General Manager Denis Reidy (front row on right).
PICTURE: EAMONN KEOGH