Paco da Gloria
The site of Paço da Glória has been inhabited since Roman times when a 1st century villa was built there. In about 1230 King Sancho II granted the estate to Martim Fernandes Vilarinho, who constructed a square feudal tower. This Torre de Novais was located at the center of the present house. By the 16th century the property had passed to the powerful and extended Araújo family, who added a wing to the tower. The current house was built in the 1730's by Francisco de Araújo e Amorim, a local nobleman who had recently returned from Brazil with a sizable fortune. The estate then took the name Glória from the newly constructed baroque chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Glory. The property's only serious economic base during most of the 18th century was the production of wine for export, mainly to England. When the wine bubble burst the estate lost its importance and after the death of the founder's son in 1794 the family moved to another property. During the 19th century the estate was seriously neglected and occupied only by tenant farmers. In 1910 Count Santa Eulalia bought the property and restored it thoroughly with money of his American wife, the widow of Stetson, the hat king. The house has had four different owners since Santa Eulalia. The appearance of the house today is virtually identical to what was built in the 1730's.
