The present Strokestown House a Palladian mansion and gardens built in the 1700s & was the family home of the Pakenham Mahon Family until 1994. It was built on the site of a 16th century castle owned by the Gaelic Chieftain O'Conor Roe.[My ancestors]
Henry Pakenham was an avid gardener & traveled widely collecting plants that he brought back to his garden at Strokestown.
As well as the house & gardens you can visit the "Famine Museum" which illustrates in detail the National tragedy that was the Potato Famine of 1847/49. When the population of Ireland dropped from 9,000,000 it was then to 4,000,000 it is today. A Million died of starvation in Ireland & a further million emigrated to England, Canada & America of those many died at sea on the way there & more in the quarantine camps they were placed in on arrival. This historic memory lies deep within the Irish American Communities of today who emigrated in the 1840s & 50s.
Susan