The Autograph Tree

The Autograph Tree is located in Coole Park near Gort. They are all deceased now, of course, these literary giants, who were involved in the Irish Literary Revival at the start of the 20th Century, yet their spirits still inhabit this special tree amongst the silent woods. Although Coole House, where they stayed and shared their dreams with Lady Augusta Gregory, is no more, the famous 'Autograph Tree' lives on. For this great copper beach, on which Lady Gregory, dramatist and folklorist, invited her literary guests to carve their initials, is now the centre of attraction of the great walled garden in the nature trail at Coole Woods. The initials are gently faded with passing time, but with a little effort (and help from the plaque provided at the base of the tree), one can still discern the flamboyant style of George Bernard Shaw among the more cryptic carvings of J. M. Synge, Augustus John, An Craoibhín (Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland) A.E. (G.W. Russell), W. B. Yeats, Sean O'Casey, as well as those of Lady Gregory and her son Robert.