Travel Guide Rum

This little showcase of the Highlands is the largest and most enchanting of the Small Isles. It had been inhabited for 8,500 years, but the Highland clearances wreaked havoc, so that most of the residents were forced to leave for the New World in the 19th century. In 1888, the Bullough family bought the island as a vacation spot and built the splendid Kinloch Castle and the Harris Mausoleum. They remained the sole occupants of Rum until 1957, when they decided to sell it to the Nature Conservancy Council, which then made it a national nature reserve. In 2007, the Isle of Rum Community Trust was created by the small island community to manage the island's activities, especially tourism.