All Things Anne… with an ‘e’
/No visit to Prince Edward Island is complete without a visit to Cavendish, the town after which Lucy Maud Montgomery modeled her fictional village of Avonlea setting for her Anne of Green Gables books. We headed to Cavendish (aka the Green Gables Shore) on the Central Coastal Drive to visit with Anne… with an ‘e’.
A little background on Anne of Green Gables… first of all, the little red-haired orphan girl, Anne Shirley, is a fictional character which evidently many visitors to PEI don’t realize according to the young lady at the Cavendish Visitor Centre. Many folks ask her where Anne is buried. Hmm!
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne’s creator, wrote Anne of Green Gables in 1905 and set it in the little fictional town of Avonlea (Cavendish). After three years of innumerable rejections from publishers, L.C. Page Publishing of Boston finally accepted her manuscript and published the book. It was an immediate success. Anne of Green Gables is the first in a series of nine books about Anne. It has sold more than 50 million copies and been translated into at least 36 languages. Montgomery was a prolific writer throughout her life publishing ‘20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays’.
The town of Cavendish pays homage to Montgomery in many, many ways… parks, the national heritage center, souvenirs and shops, Avonlea Village, museums and even the post office and the cemetery are Montgomery-centric. You can visit the place Montgomery was born, grew up, went to church, was married, taught, worked, wrote and was buried. There are also two musical productions… Anne of Green Gables - The Musical and Anne and Gilbert being performed in Charlottetown. Additionally, this year PEI is celebrating Montgomery’s 150th birthday. She’s quite the island celebrity and justifiably so.
We started our self-guided tour at the Cavendish Visitor Centre where a knowledgeable young volunteer provided us with a map of the area and some key sites to visit. The Visitor Centre also had an extensive exhibit area dedicated to Anne and her creator.
We left Blanche parked at the Visitor Centre and walked down the hill to Green Gables Heritage Place. Our Canada National Parks pass got us free entry into the the facility. We checked out the gift shop and wandered around the Park Visitor Centre then proceeded onto the grounds.
There are several buildings to explore, but the highlight is the Green Gables House which we were able to walk through. It has been decorated to match Montgomery’s descriptions of her grandparent’s home in which she grew up in the 1800s, complete with period furniture, accessories and even the wallpaper.
From Heritage Place, we followed the Haunted Wood trail, a path through the woods that young Anne found a bit intimidating.
The Haunted Wood path led us to the Cavendish Cemetery where Montgomery is buried.
Across the street from the cemetery is Montgomery Park, a pleasant little park where a bronze statue of Montgomery has been placed.
I’d purchased a couple of postcards at the gift shop and was told to mail them in the Cavendish post office for a special postmark. We walked to the post office where Montgomery was postmistress for a time and chatted with the current postmistress.
Built in 1973, the building design for the post office was ‘chosen to resemble the building on the front cover of the original Anne of Green Gables book’.There were some Montgomery exhibits in the post office, too.
We stopped briefly at Avonlea Village named after Anne’s fictional community. It’s a replica 19th century village in which all the houses are populated with artisan shops and eateries. Nothing suited our picky tastes other than afternoon ice cream cones from Cows Creamery. We wandered around the faux village streets, poking our heads in a few shops.
The Anne of Green Gables Store, and there were several of them in town, touted all things Anne… Anne’s chocolates, Anne’s raspberry cordial, Anne’s books, Anne pictures, Anne dolls, Anne postcards… you get the picture.
Commercialsim hit its peak, however, when we found the restored 1872 Long River Presbyterian Church where Montgomery once worshiped turned into a burger joint, BOOMburger. Roadside America has dubbed it ‘the Burger Church’.
We were tuckered out and Anne-ed out by late afternoon as we drove back towards the Confederation Bridge. A sign caught our attention requiring a quick stop at a quirky antique shop where the ‘World’s Largest Handheld Egg Beater’ was on display. Some things you just can’t pass up!
One more quick stop at the Island Welcome Center gave us the opportunity to wave goodbye to Anne and Prince Edward Island.
Then we paid our $50.25 toll to cross the Confederation Bridge and bid adieu to lovely Prince Edward Island. A most memorable visit and we were off again… to where, you ask? Join us next time and see.