Lucy Maud Montgomery loved Prince Edward Island, and even after she left PEI to live in Ontario, she always held the Island dear to her heart. Today, visitors can see for themselves the PEI beauty that Montgomery adored. We have rounded up a few of Montgomery’s favourite places on PEI to explore!
Lover’s Lane
Montgomery talks about Lover’s Lane many times in her journals and also writes about it in the story of Anne of Green Gables. This was a place of refuge and peace for Montgomery. Lover’s Lane is now on the property at Green Gables Heritage Place.
“I went for a walk in Lover’s Lane yesterday. It is the dearest spot in the world to me and has the greatest influence for good over me. No matter how dark my mood is, no matter how heavy my heart or how vexed my soul is, an hour in that beautiful solitude will put me right with myself and the world. Perplexity and sorrow melt away and the balm of the woods falls on my troubled thoughts like a boon of infinite peace.” Source: The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery
Cavendish Shore
Cavendish, the town L.M. Montgomery grew up in, is located right on the shore. Montgomery lived very close to the beach and spent many childhood days by the shore. Now visitors can explore the Cavendish Shore in the PEI Cavendish National Park.
“Tonight… I walked to the shore. It was as beautiful as ever. I think the Cavendish shore is the most beautiful in the world. This is not merely my fond and foolish fancy. I once heard a man who had been all over the world say he had never seen a more beautiful beach than that of Cavendish sand shore, as far as natural advantages were concerned. As I sat there alone tonight–alone but not lonely–I felt keenly and clearly that I can never love and place as I have loved Cavendish.” Source: The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery
Haunted Woods Trail
The Haunted Wood from Anne of Green Gables was a spruce grove behind the orchard where Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up. As a child, Montgomery and two young boys told scary stories to one another about the Haunted Wood until the children started to believe the fantasies they imagined!
“Not that I really believed in ghosts, pure and simple; but I was inclined to agree with Hamlet that there might be more things in heaven and earth than were commonly dreamed of—in the philosophy of Cavendish authorities, anyhow” Source: The Alpine Path
“Diana and I just imagined the wood was haunted. All the places around here are so–so–commonplace. We just got this up for our own amusement. We began it in April. A haunted wood is so very romantic, Marilla. We chose the spruce grove because it’s so gloomy. Oh, we have imagined the most harrowing things.” Source: Anne of Green Gables
The Haunted Woods Trail is at the Green Gables Heritage Place and leads to Montgomery Park!
Her Home: Cavendish Homestead
Out of all the places on PEI, Montgomery spent the most time at the Cavendish Homestead. She grew up on this property and lived here for most of her life until she got married. She wrote Anne of Green Gables here. Although the house is no longer standing, it is a beautiful property worth seeing for those who want to learn more about Montgomery’s life.
“And yet it is and ever must be hallowed ground to me … That old farm is very eloquent.”
Source: The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery
Her cousin’s farm: The Anne of Green Gables Museum & The Lake of Shining Waters
Growing up as a single child with her grandparents, Montgomery loved to visit her cousins in Park Corner. The pond near the house is the inspiration for the Lake of Shining Waters in Anne of Green Gables.
“Uncle John Campbell’s house was a big white one, smothered in orchards. Here, in other days, there was a trio of merry cousins to rush out and drag me in with greeting and laughter. The very walls of that house must have been permeated by the essence of good times. And there was a famous old pantry, always stored with goodies, into which it was our habit to crowd at bedtime and devour unholy snacks with sounds of riot and mirth”
Source: The Alpine Path
The Shore Road: Cavendish to North Rustico
According to Montgomery, the “Shore Road” in Anne of Green Gables has a real existence, between Cavendish and Rustico. You can drive or bike this route in the PEI National Park.
“I have written at length about incidents and environment of my childhood because they had a marked influence on the development of my literary gift. A different environment would have given it a different bias. Were it not for those Cavendish years, I do not think Anne of Green Gables would ever have been written.” Source: The Alpine Path
“You never know what peace is until you walk on the shores or in the fields or along the winding red roads of Prince Edward Island in a summer twilight when the dew is falling and the old stars are peeping out and the sea keeps its mighty tryst with the little land it loves. You find your soul then. You realize that youth is not a vanished thing but something that dwells forever in the heart.” Source: Rilla of Ingleside