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| Green Gables Heritage Place |
The most famous person from
Prince Edward Island is the beloved fictional character Anne Shirley of Green
Gables in Avonlea Village. So, we went to pay
her a visit. If you have read Anne of
Green Gables, you will recognize some of our references in the blog post as
being from the book. We started listening
to it on our way into Canada and are relishing finding the places and things that
the author brought to life in fiction.
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| Anne of Green Gables Museum at "Silver Bush" |
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne’s
creator, grew up on PEI in the area near Cavendish. It is thought that she patterned Avonlea
after Cavendish, and landmarks in the book after places in her own life.
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| The Lake of Shining Waters |
Maud Montgomery was given to her
grandparents to raise when she was less than 2 years old. Her mother had died and her father felt
unable to raise her, so left her with relatives and moved to Saskatchewan
(which is pretty far away). After she grew
up, she held a variety of jobs including post mistress and teacher. She always wanted to be a writer and kept
extensive journals about her daily life.
She married in her thirties to a minister and moved to Ontario with
her husband. Even though she no longer lived there, she set her books in PEI.
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| The bookcase home of imaginary friends. |
Our first stop was Silver Bush,
the home of a Montgomery's Aunt and Uncle.
She loved visiting the home and was married in the parlor there. We stood next to the Lake of Shining Waters. We looked at the bookcase where Maud had an
imaginary friend (which we know from her journals), and which is likely the
bookcase where Anne’s imaginary friends originated as well.
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| Anne's room at Green Gables |
Green Gables was patterned in the book after
the home of cousins of Maud’s grandfather. That home is now a National Heritage Place run by Parks Canada. The house is set up as if Anne, Marilla, and
Matthew had actually lived there. You
can see so many details from the book, like the brown dress with the puffed
sleeves hanging in Anne’s room.
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| The dining room set for tea |
Outside the house are several
wooded walks. We went down Lovers Lane
(which Maud spoke of frequently in her journals) and saw a place where Anne and
her fellow scholars might have left their milk to cool in a stream for their midday
meal. We were there after 2 days of
rain, so the stream was a little muddy but it was charming to see nonetheless.
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| Lovers Lane |
There are other “Anne” sites to
visit which we did not get to – the house where Montgomery was born, the post office where
she worked. You can actually buy Raspberry
Cordial at some stores. PEI loves Anne
and Maud Montgomery, and so, now, do we.
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| Keep your milk cool in the stream |
If you haven’t read the book, you
probably should. If you have read the
book, you might enjoy rereading it.
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| Author's type writer - notice some of the keys are worn |
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