Visiting Green Gables

This post is a series of posts relating to our recent visit to Prince Edward Island in June 2015.

As mentioned on Friday, we spent the first day of our trip to Prince Edward Island visiting the "Anne sites". As I had been to these previously (although many years before) I wanted to revisit them, but spend the majority of our time seeing as much of the Island as a whole as we could.

As a Lucy Maud Montgomery fan though, I hardly see how it's possible to begin a visit to the Island without your first stop being Green Gables.

As Deirdre Kessler says in her book Green Gables: Lucy Maud Montgomery's Favourite Places (linked to my review from yesterday), this site is a blend of fact and fiction. The home of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert was modeled after Montgomery's grandfather's cousins' house, David Jr. and Margaret Macneill. It is connected by a "pathway" (much more landscaped now than then, of course!) to the house where Montgomery lived with her grandparents. She would frequently follow this trail to the Macneill home through the woods which she referred to as being haunted. (Ringing any bells?)

"Green Gables was drawn from David Macneill's house, now Mr. Webb's - though not so much the house itself as the situation and scenery. And the truth of my description of it is attested by the fact that everybody has recognized it."
- Lucy Maud Montgomery

This site now has a reconstructed barn and outhouses to depict the traditional Island farmyard of the late 19th century. Visitors begin their tour by visiting "Matthew's barn" which was built roughly where the Macneill barn would have been. There is a film to watch and old farming equipment to view.

Of course, the star attraction of the site is Green Gables itself and visitors are welcome to walk through the house and peek inside the bedrooms which have been decorated and laid out to match the descriptions in Montgomery's most famous book.

Here are some pictures that I took inside the house:

Parlour

Dining Room

The Pantry

Anne's room

Marilla's Room

Thankfully we weren't there on a day with too many other tourist and so we weren't jostling for a view. Nevertheless we made it something of a quick tour because I was anxious to get over to the home where Montgomery grew up.

When you walk out of Green Gables you can follow two additional trails:

1. You can take a walk down a lane which Montgomery named "Lover's Lane" both in reality and fiction. We ambled down the lane a wee bit to say we did it.

Speckled Lover's Lane

Us! 10 Years in.

2. The other pathway takes you through the Haunted Wood over to Montgomery's Cavendish Home where she lived with her grandparents.

View in The Haunted Wood

I will take you on to the Cavendish Homestead tomorrow with great pleasure, so stay tuned!