Of course, most people who hear of PEI think of Anne of Green Gables. The island has capitalized on the coming-of-age story of an 11-year-old orphaned girl sent by mistake to the Cuthberts on Prince Edward Island in a house with Green Gables. The story relates the struggles and joys Anne experiences as she grows up in this new environment, excels at school, and captures the hearts of the Cuthbert siblings. She ends up earning a scholarship to college. Mark Twain called Anne “the most lovable child in fiction” since Lewis Carroll’s Alice.
Published in the 1908, the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery has captured the hearts of millions. She published several sequels taking Anne through Motherhood. Montgomery lived in PEI, and the book drew on her own experiences of rural life and the traditions of PEI.
While we did not go to PEI because of Anne, we did stop to see Montgomery’s house and The Anne of Green Gables Museum in Park Corner. The pictures following will give you some sense of the setting of the stories.
The Green Gables Heritage Place in in Prince Edward Island National Park is another spot if your are on a Green Gables tour. Then there is Lucy M. Montgomery’s home in Cavendish which inspired the town of Avonlea where Anne lived. The Cavendish Cemetery is where Montgomery is buried. Montgomery Park houses a bronze sculpture of the author and her cat. Then visit Avonlea Village with its historic buildings including the school that Montgomery taught in and several shops and restaurants. Go to New London which was Montgomery’s birthplace. At Borden-Carleton you can go to Gateway Village and dress up as Anne and her friends. There you can have a ice cream at Cow’s –Canada’s best ice cream.
Finally, Charlottetown, the capital of PEI, has the Anne of Green Gables store. You can see Anne and Gilbert, the Musical as well as Anne of Green Gables, the Musical at the the Confederation Center of the Arts.
Just driving through the countryside from place to place will put you in the mindset of the book and the life of the young girl who grew up there.
Finally, we explore Charlottetown.