This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
To mark the 150the Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birthday, nearly 80 events have been scheduled across Prince Edward Island to commemorate the life of the author of “Anne of Green Gables. A great excuse to discover the many facets of the woman who remains the best ambassador of her island, beyond her most famous heroine.
In the exhibition room of the small post office in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, a hat box intrigues. As you browse the explanatory panels, you learn that the manuscript ofAnne of Green Gables slept in a similar box before Lucy Maud Montgomery decided to send it to a sixth publisher in 1907. The novel would be published the following year.
It is no accident that an exhibition dedicated to the author is being held in a post office. Born in Clifton—now New London—Lucy Maud Montgomery lived with her grandparents for nearly 34 years after her mother died of tuberculosis less than two years after she was born. Alexander Macneill and Lucy Woolner Macneill were postmasters. Their home was very similar to the current building, which was moved and renovated to Cavendish in 1973, where postcards can still be sent.
The exhibition, an enhanced version in 2023 by the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau of the one created in 1991, highlights the author’s unique connection with the postal world. It tells the story of the journey her manuscripts made to her Boston publisher, by sleigh in the winter or by horse-drawn carriage in the summer, then by train and boat. After assisting her grandparents, the novelist herself was a postmistress. “The writer’s literary career is influenced by the post office in the family kitchen,” explains one of the panels. “The budding author gets her paper from postal forms. In addition, it is easy for her to discreetly send her poems and short stories to magazines in the hope of seeing them published without fear of the many rejections being made public.”
The small post office may fly under the radar for most visitors, who often stop at the iconic Green Gables House. But it’s a nice addition to the sites featured on the tour, which is designed to showcase the places that shaped the author’s mythology. “These are places where she spent time or wrote about,” says Linda Lowther, a volunteer on the 150th organizing committee.e birthday.
Sixteen stops make up this literary journey, including the Macneill home. Now destroyed — except for the kitchen, which miraculously has been preserved — the house where the author grew up was located a few steps from the current post office. You can still see the location of its foundations. A plaque also indicates the view the woman of letters had from her window, the very place where she wrote most of her novels. “The circuit is not designed to be done in one way or another,” says Mme Lowther. She recommends starting with Montgomery Park in Cavendish, which is the center of the most important sites. There is a map of the island with the 16 locations marked.
Lucy Maud Montgomery had to crisscross this park to get from her family home to the country school, but also to Green Gables, where her cousins lived. There is a statue of the author made in the wake of the creation of the trail. Crossing the street to go to the Green Gables National Historic Site, managed by Parks Canada, you enter the Haunted Trail, then the Lovers’ Path, immortalized in Anne of Green Gables. Interpretive panels with quotes from their creator punctuate the walk. “For people who only have one day, it’s better to focus on Cavendish,” recommends Linda Lowther.
The tour of the island
In a few days, it is quite possible to go beyond the town that inspired Avonlea. Among the most emblematic places, let us mention the residence of her uncle and aunt John and Annie Campbell, now the Anne of Green Gable Museum. It is here that, in her thirties, the writer married the Reverend Ewan McDonald in 1911. From one of the rooms, one can see the famous Lake of Mirrors.
To further immerse yourself in the era, spending the night in the opulent home of Senator Donald Montgomery, the author’s paternal grandfather, is worth adding to the program. The Montgomery Inn at Ingleside has six rooms, including the one the novelist occupied when she visited her grandparents. As you wander the paths at the back of the property, you will discover a nearly deserted red sand beach.
As well as her birthplace – which can be visited in just a few minutes – the Bideford Parsonage Museum, housed in a charming yellow, lace-trimmed residence where the writer had a room, provides an insight into her life as a schoolteacher in a rural community.
Of course, we also take advantage of the trip to stroll along the beaches, take the hiking trails and enjoy fish and seafood to our heart’s content!
Other avenues to follow
Our journalist was the guest of Tourism PEI, which had no say in the text.
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