GALENA, ILL.: A wee bit of Ireland in Illinois

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By Bill Wundram | Friday, July 11, 2008 2:11 PM CDT | () comments

Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad-City Times Frank O'Dowd's Pub at the Irish Cottage in Galena, Ill., has authentic Irish feel. Buy this Photo

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Wanderings With Wundram: Galena

GALENA, Ill. — I wasn’t carrying a passport but still thought this was the Emerald Isle. I stood outside the Irish Cottage and Frank O’Dowd’s Pub at Galena, Ill., praise be, listening to talkers with Irish brogues.

On one side were all these beer kegs. In Ireland, a pub’s popularity is measured by how many beer kegs sit outside, awaiting the distributor’s weekly collection. This place, it’s claimed, sells more Guinness than any in Illinois outside Chicago.

On the opposite side of me was this Stonehenge-like structure by the parking lot. Someone said it was a Dolmen, a prehistoric stone monument that dotted the Irish landscape at least 1,500 years before Egyptians struggled with the pyramids.

However you look at it, there’s nothing like Irish Cottage in Mid-America. They’ve brought a wee bit of the auld sod to the Midwest. Blarney aside, it’s as Celtic as it gets in the U.S.A.

From the outside, there’s a lineup of Dublin shop entrances. They’re a façade but so authentic that customers once rattled the doors and peeked in the windows to get inside. Now, there is a friendly looking iron fence to discourage “patrons.”

But wait until you get inside the big building along U.S. 20!

Two Irish immigrants, first cousins Jack Coulter and Basil Conroy, have connected with their ancestral past by building an elegant $10 million Irish country inn and pub, the newest hotel in Galena.

I stand in the lobby, listening to the Dublin talk of Kathleen Buckley at the desk. The place “imports” about a half-dozen young Irish men and women as interns for a year just to give the place an authentic atmosphere. The lobby is Ireland, all right, but it’s surprising to see eight giant portraits of Americans among the mahogany at the high ceiling. One of them is an instant guess: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

“Most Americans have a drop of Irish blood in their veins,” Coulter says with a brogue as thick as Molly’s Irish stew,

“If you guess all eight of them, you will get a prize,” says John Mazor, the manager.

I surprised myself by identifying seven, for which I was awarded a runners-up pint of Guinness.

Galena itself claims to be a time forgotten. The Irish Cottage and its pub is a time forgotten, too.

“We bought a 20-acre site outside Galena that had a view reminding us of our youth, a valley in County Wicklow’s Valley of Glendalough,” Coulter says.

The site was not enough. He and his partner wanted an authentic Irish inn.

“We had Irish designers and craftsmen create a giant three-section pub, a lobby and library. They were loaded into 40 ocean-going containers and reassembled here in Galena,” Coulter says.

He leads us to the W.B. Yeats Library with its mammoth, cushy leather chairs. There are Irish newspapers on the tables. Judith and Kathy, who call themselves the “tarot ladies,” are fascinating a couple of guests with illusions of their future.

“What’s that, out there in the green?” I ask the owner of the place. He pops his buttons to proudly explain, “I told you this place was authentic Ireland. It is a faerie ring, a giant ring of boulders where you can sit and be captivated by imaginary faery music.” Celtic lore claims enchantment in faeries, little people. Visitors to the Irish Cottage have been known to dance inside the circle when seized by fairies. The circle in Galena has a megalithic twin on Guernsey.

The Frank O’Dowd Pub is so authentic that groups of Irish visitors regularly say, “We’re back home.” It’s named after the owners’ grandfather, Frank O’Dowd, a Sligo man (northwest Ireland). The pub glows with rich mahoganies, stained glass and Celtic melodies. On weekends and special weekdays, fancy-clad young lasses step dance to reels and jigs. Customers stamp their feet and sing approval, the manager says.

The sectioned pub is immense, and I’m particularly drawn to what they call “the snugs” at each end of the bar — private, tiny, cozy rooms strategically near the bartender.

“A snug,” says the owner, leaves itself open to all manner of life, from discussions of financing to carrying on affairs of the heart while enjoying a pint.” He winks when mentioning “affairs of the heart.“

We wander around the Irish Cottage, including its Irish gift shop. There are 77 rooms and suites — many of them with hearths brought from Ireland — and all of the rooms (rates begin at $89) carry names of Ireland’s 32 counties. For example, if your ancestors came from County Mayo, you can request a Mayo Room.

A portion of the Irish Cottage trade is from Chicago, which is only two hours away. On a recent weekend, 75 persons stayed at the Cottage for a wedding reception.

“They wanted the pub to stay open until 5 in the morning, a tradition in Ireland, but it was against the law for us to do so. I guess the partying went on until daylight in the rooms,” the owner says.

We settle down in the pub, eyeing the ever-watchful barman as he pours the perfect Guinness. The glass is two-thirds filled until the foam settles, then carefully poured to the rim. Sipping, you can see the foam rings in the top third of the glass.

When guests check in and ask if liquor is served, the owner has a quick answer: “That’s like asking if the pope is of Catholic faith.“

We stuff ourselves on shepherd’s pie, steamed mussels, and Donegal fish and chips. In between the pie, served in a soup bowl, there are bite-size corned beef sandwiches. For desert, scones with orange jam. On weekends, there is Irish breakfast, omelets with bangers (sausage) and black and white pudding (more sausage.)

We found a visit to the Irish Cottage an authentic Irish adventure, the best this side of Lisdoonvarna. Before leaving, the manager, Mazor, suggested we climb a grassy hillside on the property to a cross and carry a stone (provided from a big pile) to offer blessings. It was a steep hill. Maybe next time.

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com.

Getting there is half the fun

One of the pleasures of wandering is getting where you want to go. Driving to Galena, Ill., is 85 miles, if you take Illinois 84, up along the river. There is an Iowa route, with a crossover at Savanna, Ill., but I chose the scenic way along the river.

After crossing the Interstate 80 bridge at LeClaire, Iowa, we made it all the way to Galena without seeing a single semi. That is worth the route if for no other reason.

Illinois 84 is a highway full of riveresque towns such as Rapids City and Port Byron, which all seem to say Mississippi River and long-ago pilots and great rafts of logs longer than football fields. Thomson always intrigues, calling itself the watermelon capital of Illinois, but the melons are yet to be picked from the vines. I shudder at a Thomson sign advertising “Leeches for sale.”

I was tempted to stop outside Thomson, where a farm offered “Therapy Buggy Rides.” That may be just what you need.

At Savanna, the glaciers had their turn. Keep your eyes on the road and not on the great cliffs of Mississippi Palisades State Park. The Mississippi, with its shoals and sandbars, is far below and the scenery is overwhelming. At Hanover, the highway passes through what I call caves of trees reaching over the road. You can almost touch the limbs. Drive slowly at Hanover to look at all the pens of ducks being reared at Whistling Wings.

Road names always intrigue, such as “Sawmill Road” and “Lost Hollow.” When you turn onto U.S. 20, look forward to some of the most awesome prairie views in all America. There is a rustic lookout tower, but don’t make the mistake I did. I turned toward the tower only to find it closed, and it may be a long time before it’s repaired.

Hillsides are purple with clover at this time of year. Far ahead, you’ll see the church steeples of Galena, sticking into the sky. You’ll wonder how a picturesque city like this ever happened, but a mother lode of lead was the reason why.

About The Irish Cottage and Galena, Ill.

Galena is one of the treasures of Illinois, blocks of quaint shops and rows of architectural gems such as Italianate, Greek Revival and Queen Anne. A fascinating visit is the Irish Cottage, an elegant, $10 million Irish inn in the style of a village in Ireland. Galena always calls itself “The city that time forgot.” Irish Cottage is a place that time forgot. You can stay there, dine there and roam outdoors to visit the faerie ring. Irish Cottage is at 9835 U.S. 20, almost at the entry to Galena. Heading north, it is on the left side of the road.

CONTACT INFORMATION: The telephone number for Irish Cottage is (815) 776-0707, and the Web site is wwwtheirishcottage.com. The Galena Visitors Bureau can be contacted at (815) 777-3557 or wwwgalena.org.

ATTRACTIONS: After a visit (or stay) at the Irish Cottage, roam Galena and Jo Daviess County. There are historic tours, or you can drive or walk around the town that was home to nine Civil War generals and a U.S. president. Tours are available at the home of President U.S. Grant. Near Galena, you can learn the early lead-mining methods that made Galena famous and visit an original 1830s mineshaft. The entire area is a vintage treasure.

GETTING THERE: Galena meets Iowa and Wisconsin on the Mississippi River. Our choice was to take the Illinois side, especially scenic Illinois 84 through Savanna, and then link up with U.S. 20 above Hanover. U.S. 20 will take you directly to Galena.

NEXT SUNDAY: Bellevue, Iowa, the river city where everyone wants to live.