Ballygarry House Hotel is such a lovely venue full of history. This week’s trip down memory lane has a little bit of a personal significance to me…
Personally, growing up in Tralee, Ballygarry House Hotel (or just Ballygarry to the locals) has definitely been a part of my childhood background. From my grandparents heading off to dances, to cousin’s weddings and the odd Sunday treat out to lunch, Ballygarry has always been in my life.
Due to an insatiable curious nature and love of old photos, I wanted to find out a little more about the history of this stunning property. The Ballygarry House Hotel staff were kind enough to send us on some interesting history, which mentioned the first couple to ever marry at the Hotel.
Back then, Ballygarry House was originally a family home, it has been owned and operated by the McGillicuddy family for over 50 years. The building in which actually dates back to the 18th century. The McGillicuddy family first became involved in the property in the 1950’s, when it was purchased by local businessman Gene McGillicuddy, Mick Allen and Ted Keane. It opened its doors for the first time as The Manhattan Hotel in 1958, after extensive redevelopment. The Manhattan was a magical place, where friends and family gathered for weddings, birthdays, homecomings and parties, for dances, socials, concerts and every other kind of celebration imaginable. Since then, the hotel has become one of the best-loved venues in the country and has long been considered the centre of Kerry’s social scene.
Kate and Gordon House were the lucky pair to first tie the knot, on a beautiful December’s day, 1958. The couple now reside in the UK but still have a strong connection to where they shared their big day… Their niece is happens to be the hotel’s Spa Manager!
Since then, over 19,000 single men and women have celebrated their wedding day at Ballygarry House – That’s over 9,500 couples! Over 500,000 guests have stayed at Ballygarry House Hotel since it’s opening in 1958. As well as this, over 2,000,000 meals have been served there… that’s a meal for half of all the people in Ireland!
