Immerse yourself in the enchanting woodland walk of the Balsam Hollow Trail, located on the grounds of the Green Gables Heritage Place in Prince Edward Island National Park. This delightful 0.5-mile (0.8 km) interpretative trail begins behind Green Gables, winding south through serene forests and along a babbling brook, before looping back to the historic house.
The trail's journey begins along a path that L.M. Montgomery fondly called Lover’s Lane. Once a route from the barnyard to the pastures, this tranquil lane was a treasured retreat for Montgomery, offering her peace and rejuvenation. She captured its beauty in numerous photographs, preserving its essence.
Montgomery's penchant for naming places was a trait she shared with her most beloved creation, Anne Shirley. In Anne of Green Gables, Anne names the path below the orchard "Lover's Lane," mirroring Montgomery's own cherished pathway. L.M. Montgomery writes:
"Lover’s Lane opened out below the orchard at Green Gables and stretched far up into the woods to the end of the Cuthbert farm. It was the way by which the cows were taken to the back pasture and the wood hauled home in winter. Anne had named it Lover’s Lane before she had been a month at Green Gables.
“Not that lovers ever really walk there,” she explained to Marilla, “but Diana and I are reading a perfectly magnificent book and there’s a Lover’s Lane in it. So we want to have one, too. And it’s a very pretty name, don’t you think? So romantic! We can’t imagine the lovers into it, you know. I like that lane because you can think out loud there without people calling you crazy.”
There’s something magical about walking in the very place where L.M. Montgomery found her inspiration. As you meander along the trail, interpretive signs guide your journey, offering Montgomery's own poetic descriptions of nature from her journals and letters. Discover the parallels between fiction and reality as you stroll through the landscapes that inspired her timeless storytelling.
L.M. Montgomery had a deep appreciation for nature. It consoled her and encouraged her. In 1909, she wrote about Lover's Lane in her journals, saying:
"This evening I spent in Lover's Lane. How beautiful it was—green and alluring and beckoning! I had been tired and discouraged and sick at heart before I went...and it...stole away the heartsickness, giving peace and newness of life."
-The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, entry of August 1, 1909.
Here's a view of the peaceful forested pathway. For fans of Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables miniseries, some exterior filming was carried out along Lover's Lane.
Much of the pathway follows along a stream, and lovely bridges cross it at several points.
In L.M. Montgomery's day, Lover’s Lane was longer, but it was shortened due to the construction of the Green Gables Golf Course.
After walking along Lover's Lane, the Balsam Hollow trail continues. The interpretive signs have additional quotes about the woods and provide the names and images of plants, such as the ferns, trees, and flowers, that grow along the trail.
L.M. Montgomery enjoyed spending time alone in nature. In 1896, she wrote:
"...I would like to go away on Sunday morning to the heart of some great solemn wood and sit down among the ferns with only the companionship of the trees and the wood-winds...and I would stay there for hours alone with nature and my own soul."
-The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, entry of July 26, 1896
There are sweet wildflowers along the path.
L.M. Montgomery shared her observations and thoughts about nature with her longtime pen pal G.B. MacMillan. In 1904, she wrote:
"A brook was laughing to itself in the hollow. Brooks are always in good spirits. They never do anything but laugh. It is infectious to hear them, those gay vagabonds of the valleys."
-My Dear Mr. M.: Letters to G.B. MacMillan, November 9, 1904.
Here's another view of the woods in Balsam Hollow.
This sign has L.M. Montgomery's description of the brook, wind, light, and ferns. In 1899, she wrote:
"Once and again, I stray down and listen to the duet of the brook and wind, and watch the sunbeams creeping through the dark boughs, the gossamers glimmering here and there, and the ferns growing up in the shadowy nooks."
-The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, entry of July 24, 1899
Here's a view of the brook with ferns and plants growing on its banks.
Writing to her lifelong pen pal in 1906, L.M. Montgomery shared that she felt at home in the woods, saying:
"The woods always seem to me to have a delicate, subtle life all their own...in the woods I like to be alone for every tree is a true old friend and every tip-toeing wind a merry comrade...I always feel so utterly and satisfyingly at home..."
-My Dear Mr. M. Letters to G.B. MacMillan, September 16, 1906
Prince Edward Island National Park was established in 1937. According to this sign:
"When Prince Edward Island National Park was established in 1937, many of L. M. Montgomery's favourite haunts were preserved. Now we and future woodland wanderers can share in the natural beauty of this area which gave her so much joy and inspiration throughout her life."
I'm glad this region was preserved so that we can visit and walk along the same paths that L.M. Montgomery once did.
Official Websites:
Balsam Hollow Trail, Prince Edward Island National Park, Parks Canada
Trails at Green Gables, Green Gables Heritage Place
Location:
Lover’s Lane and the Balsam Hollow Trail
8619 Cavendish Rd. (Route 6), Cavendish, PE C0A 1N0, Canada.
Image credits:
Photographs by World of Anne Shirley.
Map copyright OpenStreetMap.
References:
Balsam Hollow Trail. Hiking PEI. Retrieved from: https://www.hikingpei.ca/Trails/PEIPark/Cavendish/BalsamHollow.html
Balsam Hollow Trail, Prince Edward Island National Park. Parks Canada. Retrieved from: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/pe/pei-ipe/activ/sentiers-trails/balsam
Krzewinski, Agatha. The Original Homes of Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables. Sullivan Entertainment. Retrieved from: https://www.anneofgreengables.com/blog-posts/the-original-homes-of-lucy-maud-montgomery
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables. L.C. Page & Company, 1908.
Trails at Green Gables: Green Gables Heritage Place. Parks Canada. Retrieved from: https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/pe/greengables/activ/sentiers-trails
Created July 17, 2007. Last updated August 7, 2024.
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