The Lucy Maud Montgomery Lower Bedeque School is a historical museum located in Central Bedeque, Prince Edward Island.
L.M. Montgomery taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Lower Bedeque from 1897–1898. This was her third and final teaching position. She enjoyed her time in Lower Bedeque, finding it a lively and friendly place with many young people. During L.M. Montgomery’s year in Lower Bedeque, she boarded with Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Leard. She fell in love with their son, a young farmer named Herman Leard, and wrote about him in her journals. In March 1898, L.M. Montgomery’s grandfather Alexander Macneill died, and she returned home to live with her grandmother in Cavendish.
The Lower Bedeque School that L.M. Montgomery taught in was restored to represent a typical one-room, country schoolhouse in Prince Edward Island in the late 1800s. Stand at the front of the classroom and imagine yourself stepping into Montgomery's shoes or channel your inner Anne Shirley, envisioning your first day as a teacher at the Avonlea school. The original desks are more than a century old and so are the slates (Watch out, Gilbert!). The schoolroom features displays of old books, educational materials, and school supplies.
Several replica dresses were displayed from performances of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical. The school was registered as a Heritage Place by the province of Prince Edward Island in 2005.
The Lower Bedeque School was originally located on Route 112. I visited the museum at its original location in 2006. In 2019, the museum was closed due to a lack of volunteers. In 2021, the entire building was moved to a new location in Central Bedeque to a park across from the Bedeque Area Historical Museum.
The Bedeque Area Historical Museum currently maintains and manages the school museum. There are several exhibits in the Lower Bedeque School, namely: Introduction to the Schoolhouse, Lucy Maud Montgomery's Time in Bedeque, Maud's Secret Bedeque Romance, Saving the Lower Bedeque School, Early Education in Prince Edward Island, and Montgomery's Loyalist Roots.
Official Website:
Lucy Maud Montgomery Lower Bedeque School at the Bedeque Area Historical Museum
Location:
Lucy Maud Montgomery Lower Bedeque School
950 Callbeck St, Bedeque, PE C0B 1C0, Canada.
Image credits:
Photographs by World of Anne Shirley.
Map copyright Google Maps.
References:
School museum where L.M. Montgomery taught forced to close its doors. (2019, June 24). CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-bedeque-schoolhouse-lucy-maud-montgomery-1.5187652
P.E.I. school where L.M. Montgomery taught being moved to new site. (2021, June 9). CBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-lower-bedeque-school-montgomery-moving-1.6059539
Lower Bedeque School Gets a New Home. (2021, June 1). Bedeque Area Historical Museum. Retrieved from: https://www.bedequemuseum.ca/historical-society/lower-bedeque-school-gets-a-new-home
Created July 17, 2007. Last updated August 9, 2024.
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