Finding Green Gables on Prince Edward Island

Our buggy bumped down the dirt road as the gray-haired driver, dressed in denim and a wide-brimmed hat, steered his sorrel mare alongside a sun-dappled pond. I could almost hear Anne Shirley proclaim, “I shall call it the Lake of Shining Waters!” Indeed, it was this very body of water that prompted author Lucy Maud Montgomery to put those words into her ebullient redhead’s mouth.

Exploring the storied Prince Edward Island

Montgomery would find little changed in the gentle country that undulates across her native isle. Surrounded by leafy fields streaked with red-clay furrows, the “Lake of Shining Waters” and the farmhouse beside it are still owned by the writer’s family, who have turned the property into the Anne of Green Gables Museum. After touring Montgomery’s “wonder castle of my childhood” and seeing the parlor where she married, I boarded a buggy at the front door to tour the grounds.

My mind crowded with images from Anne’s life with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, the middle-aged brother and sister who adopted her: shy Matthew bringing Anne home for the first time; no-nonsense Marilla taking their buggy to an Aid Society meeting; Anne and her best friend and kindred spirit, Diana, riding with Diana’s father, Mr. Barry, all the way to Charlottetown to visit Diana’s wealthy aunt.

I stopped at the Blue Winds Tea Room in nearby Clinton. There, a glass of raspberry cordial reminded me of the unfortunate occasion when Anne mistakenly served Diana a glass of Marilla’s currant wine instead of the berry soda.

Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery

Up the road, I learned more about Montgomery when I peeked into the memorabilia-stuffed cottage where she was born in 1874. Her mother died when the author was 21 months old, and she went to live with her maternal grandparents in nearby Cavendish, today a busy beach town.

The next day, I escaped the town’s commercialized main drag by turning into a narrow driveway leading to the site of Montgomery’s grandparents’ homestead, which she called her “hallowed ground.” While most of the house is gone, its stone foundation lies down a forested path that the author envisioned as Anne and Diana’s “Haunted Wood.” All that remains is the tiny single-room kitchen, preserved by descendants.

Montgomery’s books are available for sale inside. It’s especially fitting, Historian Tour Guide Denise Bruce told me, because the author once wrote right here. Bruce gave me a bittersweet glimpse into Montgomery’s life—one that was far less idyllic than her character’s. After a happy childhood came years of caring for her failing grandmother, followed by an oppressive marriage to an unstable man. Pausing, Bruce observed, “Anne was what [Montgomery] wanted to be: free.”

The actual Green Gables is a quarter of a mile away, just beyond Cavendish Cemetery, where Montgomery’s grave is carpeted with flowers. Now part of the L.M. Montgomery’s Cavendish National Historic Site, the centerpiece of Green Gables Heritage Place is the house that once belonged to the author’s cousins. She often walked over from her grandparents’ house to visit, and it became her model for the home where Anne and the Cuthberts lived. Stepping inside immersed me in their world.

In summer, an Anne role-player delights visitors. Even on my September visit, the pigtailed heroine’s presence filled the rooms. In the larder, a crock of plum-pudding sauce was carefully covered to prevent a repeat of the infamous drowned-mouse incident. Up in her east gable bedroom, Anne’s treasured puff-sleeved dress hung in the corner, ready for the Christmas concert.

That evening, as I drove to the Montgomery Inn at Ingleside, the author’s century-old words perfectly captured the scenery: “Sometimes the road went through woods where maples were beginning to hang out scarlet banners ... sometimes it wound along a harbor shore and passed by a little cluster of weather-gray fishing huts; again it mounted to hills whence a far sweep of curving upland or misty blue could be seen.”

If you go to Prince Edward Island

What to do

Anne of Green Gables Museum, in Park Corner, welcomes visitors every day from mid-May to mid-October and by reservation in the offseason. Adult admission, about $7. A similar schedule exists for the L.M. Montgomery Birthplace (adults, about $5) in New London.

At the L.M. Montgomery Cavendish Homestead (adults, about $6, mid-May to mid-October only), you can stroll the wooded path to read signs quoting Montgomery’s writing.

Green Gables Heritage Place, located in Prince Edward Island National Park, includes an excellent interpretation center as well as the iconic house. It’s open May through October, with special summer activities (adults, about $8.50).

Additional Montgomery connections include beaches and lighthouses that she described in her books and schoolhouses where she taught. The scenic Island Walk—a gentle, 435-mile-long route linking trails, secondary roads, and shores—leads hikers on a circumnavigation of PEI and features waypoints associated with Anne of Green Gables.

Two popular musicals, both staged in Charlottetown, use song and dance to tell the story of Anne’s childhood and young adulthood.

• Anne & Gilbert—The Musical: This story of young love is presented several times a week at the Florence Simmons Performance Hall between late May and early October.
• Anne of Green Gables—The Musical: This beloved, long-running show is presented at the Confederation Centre of the Arts every other summer. It’s dark in 2023, but will return in 2024.

Where to stay

Where to eat

Where to shop

Near the bridge to New Brunswick, Shop & Play stocks plenty of Green Gables souvenirs and books (closed in winter). Visitors of all ages can also dress up as Anne for fun photos.