O'Caruso's Announce
Purchase of Irish Farm House

October 1998 - Fred and Ellen Caruso of Englewood, Colorado, USA, have announced the purchase of an historic Irish farm house in West County Cork, Ireland. The farm house will serve as the international base for the Caruso's adventure tourism, conference planning and association management enterprises. Business operations will be administered electronically through their Englewood, Colorado offices.

The original home consisted of a living room and parlour on the first floor with a landing and two bedrooms on the second floor, all with a southern exposure. Built without the notion of indoor plumbing or electricity, a kitchen, bath and utility area were tastefully added by the original owners and cannot be seen as one views the entry to the home through a pathway arched by giant ornamental fuscia bushes.The home is surrounded by the 98-acre O'Mahoney farm which is still owned and worked by the resident farmer, Noel O'Mahoney, son of the original owner-builders. O'Mahoney, who was born in the home in 1941, raises suckling dairy calves.

The land is "free title" which relates to the historic significance of the home and surrounding region. The land was considered too poor in quality to be granted to foreigners during the oppression years. The Irish peasants were allowed to retain ownership of the less valuable lands in Ireland and thus permitted to scrape out what ever living could be had at the time. In many other parts of Ireland, property must be leased from a family of foreign nobility and clear title cannot be obtained.

The Caruso's will begin restoration in the fall of 1998. Fred and Ellen Caruso both hold dual American and Irish citizenship and passports.

The house, which shines bright yellow in the sunlight, has been named by the new owners in Gaelic as "Seoid Chum na Riasca," (pronounced "showid coom nuh reeaska") or "The Jewel of Counrooska." The home and surrounding farmland lie at the headwaters of the Counrooska River.

The property is situated at an elevation of approximately 650 feet within the Cahha mountain range, known locally as "the rain shower mountains." It overlooks the National Forest of Ireland, a national treasure created to preserve one of the only remaining original hardwood forests in the nation. The forest is prized for its ancient moss-covered oaks, ash and birch trees.

Most of the indigenous hardwood forests of Ireland were cut for furniture manufacture, shipbuilding, building material supply and support beams for mines by foreign merchants during the exploitation period from 1560 through 1750. What was not destroyed for export as timber was converted to charcoal for the smelting of metallic ore, most of which was imported from other countries, smelted and re-exported by foreign merchants.

The immediate area enjoys a micro-climate which makes it the most moderate site in Ireland. Tropical palm trees grow in the village of Glengarriff along with many varieties of flora which grow only in more southern regions.

The farm house enjoys an equally moderate, but slightly different climate than the sea-level village below. Breezes twirled by the glacial-worn mountain tops cut cloud covers and create rain swirls and frequent intervals of sunlight during most low-level storms that darken the surrounding countryside. Rainbows are very common all year long. The yelp of sea lions and the whispered chatter of leprechauns can be heard in the distance on quiet summer nights.