We love traveling to literary places. Way back in the spring, before we knew all the challenges we would face this year, Jeff scheduled our vacation to Prince Edward Island. He picked it for two reasons: First, it would be cooler temperatures than Texas, and second, he knew how much I’ve wanted to go there, for I love all things L.M. Montgomery. What we didn’t realize was that it would be the exact restful place we needed after the chaos of our lives.
We arrived in Charlottetown, PEI, in the middle of a tropical storm. Our early morning flight from Toronto was the only one to PEI that day, the rest of the day they were canceled! Once we arrived, we prepared ourselves to hunker down in our hotel room and wait out the storm. But the sun came out in spite of the fierce wind, so we explored a bit, had a lovely dinner, and wondered what the next day would bring.
It brought much of the same, thankfully. A bit of drizzle. Some wind. But nothing horrible. We brunched at a lovely German restaurant, then met our tour guide for a walking tour of town. We were the only ones on the tour! I love it when that happens!
Turns out Charlottetown, the island, and Canada have interesting histories we didn’t know. For example, did you know that Canada didn’t become its own country until 1867? We were shocked! But Charlottetown itself was lovely, with a long history. And our guide, a retired veterinarian who has lived on the island his entire life, except for his first 2 years of college, was delightful.
That evening, we went to see Anne and Gilbert, the musical. It was very sweet and well done, but the best part is that it took place in the college Maud attended, where she took her teaching license in one year instead of two–just like Anne and Gilbert at Queens, for which it was the model.
From Charlottetown, we ventured northeast, stopping and various small history museums until it was finally time to check in to our Bed and Breakfast in north central PEI. When you read Anne of Green Gables and the other stories set in PEI, you realize those stories have rural settings. But I didn’t really realize how rural the island is until our visit. Lots of farmland in the interior with fishing along the coastline. It was lovely and quiet and restful.
Our hosts at the Barachois Inn, Judy (the mom) and Andrea (the daughter), were very friendly and made our stay even more lovely. They fed us breakfast every morning, gave us great restaurant suggestions, and even provided us with a picnic lunch one day.
Of course we hit all the L.M. Montgomery sites while we were there: The Green Gables Heritage site, L.M. Montgomery’s Cavendish home site, her birthplace, the parsonage where she lived one year while teaching, her burial site, and Park Corner, the site that became Silver Bush in her “Pat” books as well as The Story Girl. At the Green Gables site, we walked Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Wood path, just like Anne and Diana did.
The week was full of great seafood, cool weather, and a few rain showers, which only enhanced the romance of the place for me. And of course, we bought books. Not only did I buy three L.M. Montgomery books I hadn’t read, but we found a used bookstore in Charlottetown having a buy 2 get 1 free sale. So yes, we did.
Jeff enjoyed the quiet and the history as much as I did. We had listened to Anne of Green Gables together and he’d watched the old mini-series with me, so he wasn’t clueless about all that. But he planned a bit of the trip for his enjoyment, too. We had to fly through Toronto, and our dates just happened to coincide with our Texas Rangers playing the Toronto Blue Jays. And the game had playoff implications. So my baseball man was quite happy to get to visit another ballpark and to cheer the Rangers to a big win that night.
I’m not sure we’ll ever make it back to PEI—there are so many places we want to see—but we will definitely go back to Canada. We left there with extremely positive experiences of the people and places.
Have you ever been on a trip that involved a literary destination? Please share!
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I’m Canadian, from Ontario, and I’m so glad you enjoyed your visit to my country!:) I LOVE all things Anne of Green Gables and went to PEI as a teenager :). I hope to go back one day with my own kids!
Yes, your country was very welcoming! 😁 I hope you get to go with your kids. It would be so fun to share your love of Anne with them!
We went to Bremen, saw the musicians statue. (fairy tales) I saw the real life home of Captain Von Trapp and Maria (a memoir) and Salzburg and Mozart’s birthplace. (Biography)
Lauraine
How fun!!! And I would so love to see the Von Trapp home. I’ve read Maria’s memoirs. 😁
My husband and I went to PEI a year or so ago, right before a big hurricane hit the island. We were with a Road Scholar group, which focused on outings around Charlottetown and then Summerville, I believe it’s called. Our guide was fabulous and gave us so much background information. The food was delicious–lots of seafood but other options as well. We, too, toured the Anne of Green Gables home (her grandparents’ home). In addition, we saw a first nation’s area, the parabolic dunes, a fox museum (They farmed foxes there to make fur coats.), a fishing museum, a sea captain’s home, a potato farm, a park, etc. The variety was fascinating!
They are still talking about the damage from Fiona! They were all nervous about the one that hit when we were coming in and glad it ended up a non-event.
Sounds like you had a great tour! We hit some of those things you mentioned, but we missed some, too.
What a marvelous trip, D’Ann! Your photos are gorgeous. I grew up with Anne Shirley books and adore the idea of taking a trip like this. Your post just makes me want to visit all the more. I think my daughter would probably enjoy it more than my husband, but Wes would have loved the baseball. I think he was watching that game. 🙂
You and your daughter would love it! You could schedule it when the Rangers are in Toronto and leave Wes there to watch the games. 😂
Excellent strategy!
About 20 years ago, I visited the small apartment/house where Margaret Mitchell lived when she wrote Gone with the Wind. I loved that she and her husband threw parties, and she balanced her uneven coffee table with one of the finished chapters of GWTW.
How fun! I would love to see that! What a great literary visit!
I love PEI! We live close enough to drive there, over that lonnnng bridge.
Years ago, my MIL and I got kicked out of Green Gables for sitting on the fainting couch, and no, we didn’t see the sign that said “do not sit on the couch”. I had to drag her out of there and then explain in ASL why we had to leave. She called it “our crime spree”.
Oh, wow! So jealous you can drive there! And that story is hilarious!!!! What a memory!
Oh, how I would LOVE to visit PEI! Your photos confirm how stunning it all is. My “literary” trip was a zillion years ago when I convinced my dad we should go to Missouri, and in particular, the Ozarks. We toured Rocky Ridge Farm, the home Almanzo built for his wife, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and it was so fun to see Mary’s organ, Pa’s fiddle, Laura’s library, and everything else! Did you know Almanzo built all the kitchen counters at a shorter height because Laura was short? Her kitchen work table was also positioned in front of large window so she was never bored while kneading bread. We also visited Mark Twain’s Hannibel on that trip, visiting Injun’ Jim’s cave and the whitewashed fence.
I just made it to Rocky Ridge Farm a year or so ago, and yes, it was fabulous! I loved all the family artifacts—and just imagining Laura and Almanzo and Rose living there. So glad you got to go!
Interesting!
Yes, When I was in my teens we visited PEI and visited the Anne of Green Gables house. The friend who planned the trip was a fan and needless to say so was I after the visit and reading the book. I enjoyed all of the sequels in the years to follow.
Fun! I love that you saw it all before you became a fan! I want to red-read everything now that I’ve seen the setting in person! 😂
I’ve visited St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, a couple of times to see the places and graves of people Eugenia Price wrote about. Being a history buff, my heart was filled to see the names of people she wrote about in her fiction novels, The Savannah series, who were actually people of Savannah.