An Anne-kind of day

Today was the day we planned to visit the sites associated with Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of the Anne of Green Gables series of books, as well as many other books set here on Prince Edward Island.

We started the day by going back to the "Parts for Trucks" store to get replacement headlight bulbs for Miss Doozie. We knew we needed one to replace the one we had stolen from the high-beam socket to get the low-beam/daytime-running-lights working on the passenger side. They were less than $4US each, so we got two extra to keep.

We tried a couple of more places for the hi-low hitch; one of the fellows we talked with said that we would likely have better luck in Moncton, New Brunswick, as they at least have a motorhome seller there - PEI only has sellers of trailers and 5th wheels.

We stopped by a place, Deep Roots, that we had read about - a retired schoolteacher who has an organic apple orchard, and is now distilling liquor. It was very interesting to talk with him - he decided to go into distilling because he would have needed to get a pasteurizing machine if he wanted to make apple cider. In Canada, to label a distilled product as rum or brandy, there are aging requirements. He elected to start selling some of what he made directly after distilling; Canada allows this to be sold as "liquor". He does have some of his apple liquor aging in barrels at this time; I think he said that it would be 2 years of aging in October and that is when he would open the barrels and bottle it. He said that the first aging would be 2 years, but after that, the time would increase as the insides of the barrels are coated, and it would require the alcohol to penetrate deeper to pull in the flavor of the oak. He was very interesting, and it was also interesting how many people visited in just the short time that we were there.

The proprietor at Deep Roots Distillery and Dwayne discussing his product.

From there we headed to the Anne of Green Gables Museum at Park Corner.

Home of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Uncle John and Aunt Annie Campbell. She called it "Silver Bush". She wrote to one of her cousins, "I love this old spot better than any place on earth." It was in the parlor of this house that she married her husband.

 The museum had all sorts of memorabilia and quotes from Montgomery that allowed me to "get to know her" a little better.

A quote about when she started writing "Anne of Green Gables".

In the book, "Anne of Green Gables", Anne had a lot of imaginary friends - one was "Katie Maurice" who was the reflection that she would see in the glass bookcase doors. "Katie Maurice" was also Maud Montgomery's imaginary friend that lived in the reflection of the bookcase glass doors in her childhood home (I can't remember whether it was located here in her aunt and uncle's home or whether it was in her grandparents' home.

They had buggy rides available that you could take - "Matthew's Buggy Rides" - I wonder if the driver was as silent as Matthew was in "Anne of Green Gables"?

 

Maud Montgomery liked cats too! The quote associated with this said: November 11, 1901 - "I am here alone in my office of the Daily Echo (a newspaper in Halifax). Roof cats prowl continuously - but there is one lovely grey fellow... that looks so much like Daffy that ... I squeeze out a homesick tear."

In the room that was supposed to be like it was when Maud stayed with her aunt and uncle was a dresser so like the one we had (that Kendra and Ricky now have).

Even the drawer pulls were very like it. The one that Kendra and Ricky have now though has a marble top. And I think it had inlay veneer on the fronts of the drawers where this has carving.

I thought this was an interesting statement from Maud on whether Anne was a "real person".

Maud's mother died when she was less than 2 years old, and she went to live with her grandparents.

What a dear story about her mother! It made me think of Anne finding out more about her mother who died when Anne was a baby in the "Anne of the Island" book.

The "Anne of Green Gables" book has been translated into many languages. I read that a missionary gave her own copy of Anne of Green Gables to a Japanese friend just before she had to leave Japan due to World War II. The Japanese friend translated the book into Japanese, and it became very popular after the war in Japan, and continues to be so.

The lake that Maud called "Lake of Shining Waters" was near her aunt and uncle's house, not near the Green Gables house (in real life). I should have walked down there to get a better picture... but I didn't!

From the museum, we drove to the Green Gables Heritage site, part of the Canadian National Parks system. It is very near our campground in Cavendish.

Information plaque about Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Back of the Green Gables house.

Front of the Green Gables house.

There are two walking paths, both of which show up in her books, that are drawn from what Maud called them when she was growing up in the area - this was "Lovers Lane".

"The Haunted Wood"

We finished up our "Anne-kind of day" with ice cream cones from "Cows Ice Cream" in Cavendish.

Since Dwayne had never read any of the books, he was coming at this just as learning about an interesting person, and he said it was very interesting. For me, it was great to learn more about the author of the "Anne" books and to appreciate all that she shared about herself in the books.