While we can provide our kids samples of life lived long ago at American destinations like Williamsburg and Plymouth, at Bunratty Folk Park, families can glimpse Ireland’s past throughout the centuries. Built in 1425, Bunratty Castle is filled with 15th and 16th century furnishings, art and tapestries. In the evenings, Medieval Banquets complete with costumed performers singing traditional Irish folk songs as families sit at communal tables eating with their hands by candlelight are so popular you should book tickets in advance of a visit. (Banquets are held twice nightly.) Nineteenth century Ireland comes to life on the 26-acre folk park where farmhouses, a church, a wealthy home, a walled garden and a village street complete with shops let you go back in time.