Prince Edward Island - Through Anne's Eyes

I arrived on Prince Edward Island with a giant gap in my childhood cultural experience, having never read Anne of Green Gables and therefore with no frame of reference for the fictional Avonlea, the Haunted Woods or Lovers Lane, all of which author Lucy Maud Montgomery modeled after a family farm near Cavendish. The story line of the children’s novel centers on Anne, a red haired precocious girl adopted by a couple living in a house called Green Gables. They were mistakenly sent an orphan girl instead of a boy, yet decided to keep her. But I knew none of this. I needed a crash course. So, with a friendly  PEI library recorded book loan, I embarked on my driving tour of the island while listening to the eleven hour unabridged version of Anne of Green Gables.

Through the eyes of the red-haired orphan who has captured the hearts of readers for 100 years, I learned a few things about Prince Edward Island; some things are the same, others she never dreamed of. I crossed the Northumberland Strait onto Canada's smallest province on the13 km Confederation Bridge, completed in 1997. Anne, adopted from Nova Scotia, came by ferry and then by train to arrive at her new home. Today, the trains are gone and the rail bed is a hike and bike path stretching from one tip of the island to the other. Hiking or biking the gravel path between the storybook small towns of Prince Edward Island is gentle, since the highest elevation of the island is 152 metres (499 feet). Hike and Bike Trails. PEI is laid back in geography and atmosphere. I could feel myself decompressing with each mile. Except for the capital, Charlottetown, and a few major towns, commercial development is understated.

Russet apples and potatoes are unchanged from the early 1900's. PEI is home to miles and miles of potatoes, growing on small farms in ruddy soil, red from iron oxide, and with a spectacular view. If you like your potatoes distilled into Artisan Vodka, take a tour of the Prince Edward Distillery on the East Cape. Polish off your potato experience by visiting the Potato museum  in O'Leary. Potato Museum

PEI is pristine and pastoral. Lawns are mowed almost daily and in June, giant lupines that have naturalized over the island fill the ditches with pinks and blues and whites. PEI calls itself the gentle island, embracing a laidback attitude, but also gentle in its rolling hills of cultivated land, farmhouses and churches crisp and white, just as they were in Anne’s time, and endless coastline, harbors, fishing villages, and 52 lighthouses. (After the first 40 lighthouses, I developed lighthouse numbness). Most lighthouses have been moved from their original locations due to erosion as the fragile sandy red soil of the island washes away with every winter storm. Lighthouses serve no useful purpose today, modern navigational devices having made them obsolete. They are points in history, preserved to commemorate events they have witnessed during Anne's time and before and lure tourists like me into quaint fishing harbors and onto points for a closer look at a lighthouse and the water, never more than 20 kilometers away from any point on the island. Lighthouses

I am puzzled that Anne, who lived only a few kilometers from the popular Prince Edward Island National Park, never mentioned outings to the beach. PEI’s beaches are human friendly, with wide swaths of white or red sand. At the National Park on the North Shore, the water is quite temperate for swimming in summer. I will suspend my disbelief that Anne was not a fan of the beautiful water that laps at PEI, just as I suspended disbelief that Anne’s adopted family would ask a distant acquaintance to pick out an orphan for them while they were selecting their own.

I doubt that Anne dreamed that one day PEI would call itself Canada’s Green Island and use wind turbines for 5% of its electricity. The North Cape Wind Energy Interpretive Center filled my mind with facts and opinions about alternative energy sources. PEI was my first experience with green garbage. By the time I left the island I had the system down: compost the leftover fries and napkin, trash the plastic fork, recycle the water bottle, and take the wine bottle back for a refund. (Anything bottled on the island must use refundable bottles.) PEI is home to the original recycler, Édouard Arsenault, an Acadian who, after returning from World War II, collected thousands of glass bottles and built a house, a tavern and a chapel at Cap-Egmont on the Western Cape before he finally became compost himself in 1984. Coincidentally, he was also a lighthouse keeper. Bottle Houses

Anne talked only of food served at tea, but if she had discussed dinner, surely fish would have been prominent. After potatoes, fishing is the second largest industry. PEI gave me my first taste of hake, which is popular in Ireland and now appearing in North American waters. It was the luncheon special at the Blue Fin in Souris, where a generous serving of pan fried hake, biscuits, coleslaw and mashed potatoes was difficult to finish. The special included desert, for me a moist bread pudding the friendly waitress packed to go. Lobster was in season in June, but I was early for the church lobster suppers of  July and August. I was also early for tuna.  Scallops are another local favorite, along with oysters and quahogs, which one waitress described as "like a clam but slimier". Along the Western cape, at the Seaweed Cafe in Miminegash I had my first Acadian meat pie and a seaweed pie made from Irish moss harvested from the ocean. I’ll try anything once, except maybe not quahogs. Seaweed Pie

By the time I reached Cavendish and the Green Gables house, I was in love with Anne the island’s heroine, referred to by Mark Twain as the most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice. The world has remained in love with Anne for over a century. Since publication in 1908, the book has been translated into 17 languages, has 7 sequels and has been adapted to film many times. I confess to butterflies as I approached the house made famous by Lucy Montgomery. I walked down Lover’s Lane, into the Haunted Wood, and up the stairs to Ann’s room under the small green gable. And I felt at home, as though Anne might walk through the door and offer me a raspberry cordial and some biscuits with jam. Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables made me fall in love with Montgomery's island. I was wistful when I finished her book, and reluctant to leave her island. Montgomery felt the same way. She married a minister and moved to Ontario where she raised three sons and continued to write until her death. But her heart never left the island. She asked to come home to the island of her birth to be buried, near Green Gables in Cavendish Community Cemetery. I understand why.  And I heartily recommend that you too make the book part of your vacation reading when visiting her island.

Photos - Counterclockwise driving tour of Prince Edward Island


End Notes: 

tourismpei.com, the official site for Prince Edward Island, is excellent.

 Welcome centers with information are located near all entry points and additional sites are easy to find throughout the island. PEI maps available there showcase three scenic drives, all with good roads, and pinpoint camping and tourist attractions. Ask for the Hike and Bike Trail maps at the same centers. Lodging and dining information is available as well.

Approaches to PEI :
Major airlines connecting to Charlottetown include Air Canada, Delta, Northwest and West Jet
Driving from New Brunswick, the Confederate Bridge spans 13 Kilometers, a 12 minute drive across the strait of Newfoundland.
From Nova Scotia, Northumberland Ferries operates between Caribou and Wood Island PEI, a 75 minute trip.
Entry to the island by bridge or ferry is free. Fares are collected on the return, approximately $42 for a passenger vehicle on the bridge and $64 on the ferry.

How long should you spend? I spent five leisurely days driving the scenic routes. Add more time for Charlottetown, especially during the summer festival season. In 2010 Circ du Soleil participated in the Canada Day parade and fireworks displays. Summer theatre in the capital city features Anne of Green Gables, of course.

When to go? June and September are less crowded, but you will miss the church lobster suppers and the festivals of July and August.