Ulster American Folk Park

The Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh traces the story of Ulster Scots emigration to America from the 18th century onward. The museum is built around the original cottage of Thomas Mellon, born near Omagh in 1813, whose family emigrated to Pennsylvania where he founded the Mellon banking dynasty — one of the wealthiest families in American history. The restored Mellon cottage is the centrepiece of the Old World section, surrounded by other reconstructed Irish cottages, farmsteads and a weaver's cottage representing the world emigrants left behind.

A reconstruction of a dockside emigration quay provides the transition between the Old and New World sections of the park. The New World section contains a reconstructed Pennsylvania street of the 1800s, complete with working buildings, costumed interpreters and demonstration activities. The combination of the two environments — the Irish cottage and the American street — makes concrete the transformation that emigration represented.

The museum tells a story that has direct personal relevance to millions of Americans with Ulster-Scots ancestry — a demographic that includes many US presidents. Dedicated research facilities allow visitors to trace their ancestral connections. The park is one of the most visited heritage sites in Northern Ireland and deservedly so — the quality of the reconstructions and interpretation is consistently high.