Welcome to Glengarry Heritage Centre
Sgeulachd a'ghlinne
GLENGARRY HERITAGE CENTRE
The Glengarry Visitor Centre Association was formed in 1998 to explore and preserve the rich local history of this glen and to provide a connection with the many clansmen who left their native lands for a new life in Glengarry County, Canada and other places around the world. The Visitor Centre was opened in 1999 on a site next to the Invergarry Hotel and also served as an information point for the many visitors and walkers who come to Glengarry to enjoy the outstanding beauty and natural history of the forest, the lochs and the hills.
The Visitor Centre housed a permanent exhibition telling the story of the glen in three themes – the MacDonells of Glengarry, the local emigrations to Glengarry County, Canada and the Ellice family as Victorian landlords after the MacDonells left. We also began to build up a collection of other stories, photographs and documents from local people, former residents and Glengarry contacts worldwide.
The new Centre, the Glengarry Heritage Centre, has a dedicated room in the Glengarry Community Hall, which opened in May 2006. We continue to expand our archive of Glengarry history and welcome visitors with Glengarry links, often in search of their ‘roots’.
Glengarry Heritage Centre is a charitable association run entirely by local volunteers, so do come and join us if you have any spare time!
At present, we are open from Easter to end September on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m, from Easter to the end of September and at other times throughout the year by appointment. Admission is free.
We have a small reference library, local census records and facilities for scanning and printing from our collection. Researchers from home or abroad are very welcome and we are easy to find in the Glengarry Community Hall on the main A87 road through Invergarry to the Isle of Skye.
PUBLICATIONS FOR SALE
“Place Names of Glengarry and Glenquoich” by Edward C. Ellice
A limited edition of this rare book was reprinted in 1999
£20 plus postage.
“The Glengarry Water Kelpie”
A small book with lively illustrations and a Gaelic translationadapted from a tale in “Place Names”
£2.50 plus postage
“Wartime in Glengarry” (published in 2006 by our local History Society)Local memories of two world wars with photographs
£4.50 plus postage
We also print a range of historical leaflets as a guide to the Glengarry area and have a small retail section selling books and cards. We have a useful collection of local maps to consult for hill walkers looking for old tracks and paths as far as Knoydart along the old road via Tomdoun to Kinlochhourn. Walks around Glengarry include the Great Glen Way, the Great Glen Cycle route and the Glengarry Forest Walks. Of local interest also is the Invergarry Station project based at the old Invergarry station on the old railway line from Fort Augustus to Spean Bridge.
FINDING GLENGARRY CONNECTIONS
We are very happy to provide as much information as we can for people looking for ancestral connections to the glen, particularly if there is evidence of place names, and we now have local census records (1841 to 1901). For further information on genealogical records we would advise contacting the Highland Archive Centre, Inverness, the Lochaber Archive Centre in Fort William or the Armadale Castle Library and Archive on the Isle of Skye.
ACCOMMODATION
There have been many changes in Glengarry recently but we still have the Glengarry Castle Hotel, the Invergarry Hotel and a good range of bed and breakfast and self-catering outlets in Glengarry, Aberchalder and Fort Augustus.
There is still a Post Office in the village and our local Glengarry Filling station has a small shop attached.
For supermarket shopping, Fort William is 25 miles and Inverness 45 miles away.
Fort Augustus, on the Caledonian Canal, is just 7 miles away.
Come and visit us and help keep alive the fascinating story of this Highland glen.