Nestled in the picturesque village of Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, the Green Gables Heritage Place is a charming farm that inspired L.M. Montgomery to write the beloved novel Anne of Green Gables. Now a designated National Historic Site within Prince Edward Island National Park, Green Gables Heritage Place offers a unique celebration of literature where reality and fiction seamlessly intertwine. Explore the enchanting grounds that inspired Montgomery's timeless story and experience the magic of stepping into the world of Anne Shirley.
The farmhouse was the home of David Macneill and Margaret Macneill (pictured below), two siblings who were cousins of L.M. Montgomery's grandfather. In 1896, their niece Ada Macneill and her 13-year-old daughter Myrtle returned to Cavendish to help on the farm. L.M. Montgomery lived nearby and became friends with her cousin Myrtle. Montgomery often walked through their property. She called the spruce grove by the farmhouse the Haunted Wood, and she was fond of spending time in a forested pathway that she called Lover’s Lane.
After Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908, readers recognized that this location had inspired the setting for L.M. Montgomery’s novel. Fans of the story began visiting the farmhouse, which became known as “Green Gables.” In 1909, Myrtle Macneill Webb and her husband Ernest Webb bought the farm. In the 1930s, Parks Canada developed the region into a national park with Green Gables as the centerpiece.
On January 27, 1911, L.M. Montgomery wrote in her journals about how she had not drawn any of the characters in her stories from real life although she “used real places and speeches freely.” She continued, writing, “Nevertheless I have woven a good deal of reality into my books. Cavendish is to a large extent Avonlea.”
Montgomery went on to write, “Green Gables was drawn from David Macneill’s house, now Mr. Webb’s—though not so much the house itself as the situation and scenery, and the truth of my description of it is attested by the fact that everybody has recognized it.”
Later in the same entry, L.M. Montgomery wrote about Anne Shirley, saying:
“When I am asked if Anne herself is a “real person” I always answer “no” with an odd reluctance and an uncomfortable feeling of not telling the truth. For she is and always has been, from the moment I first thought of her, so real to me that I feel I am doing violence to something when I deny her an existence anywhere save in Dreamland. Does she not stand at my elbow even now—if I turned my head quickly should I not see her—with her eager, starry eyes and her long braids of red hair and her little pointed chin? To tell that haunting elf that she is not real, because, forsooth, I never met her in the flesh! No, I cannot do it! She is so real that, although I’ve never met her, I feel quite sure I shall do so some day—perhaps in a stroll through Lover’s Lane in the twilight—or in the moonlit Birch Path—I shall lift my eyes and find her, child or maiden, by my side. And I shall not be in the least surprised because I have always known she was somewhere.”
Although Anne Shirley may not have been a real girl, L.M. Montgomery's creation feels close to real in this setting. Anne is somewhere in this space. You can almost feel Anne’s presence when exploring the grounds, strolling down Lover’s Lane, or walking through the Haunted Wood. You think of Anne when you see the geranium plant she named “Bonny” on the kitchen window sill or peek into her cheerful bedroom where her cherished puffed-sleeve dress hangs prominently.
You can tour each room in Green Gables. The rooms were thoughtfully decorated with Victorian pieces and with special touches from the novel. It feels like Anne, Marilla, and Matthew just stepped out and left visitors to explore their home. Each room was corded off, so sometimes I found it difficult to take good photos that captured the spaces, and it felt crowded when other visitors were nearby.
Here are some photos I took during my visit in 2006. This is a view of the horsehair sofa and decor in the parlour.
This is the formal dining room at Green Gables. It has pretty lace curtains and diamond-patterned vine wallpaper.
Here is the kitchen table with the stove in the foreground. Anne, Marilla, and Matthew would have spent much of their time here.
I smiled seeing the geranium on the window sill in the kitchen, thinking of the scene in Anne of Green Gables when Anne asks Marilla about the geranium's name:
"'What is the name of that geranium on the window-sill, please?'
'That’s the apple-scented geranium.'
'Oh, I don’t mean that sort of a name. I mean just a name you gave it yourself. Didn’t you give it a name? May I give it one then? May I call it—let me see—Bonny would do—may I call it Bonny while I’m here? Oh, do let me!'
'Goodness, I don’t care. But where on earth is the sense of naming a geranium?'
'Oh, I like things to have handles even if they are only geraniums. It makes them seem more like people. How do you know but that it hurts a geranium’s feelings just to be called a geranium and nothing else? You wouldn’t like to be called nothing but a woman all the time. Yes, I shall call it Bonny. I named that cherry-tree outside my bedroom window this morning. I called it Snow Queen because it was so white. Of course, it won’t always be in blossom, but one can imagine that it is, can’t one?'"
The dairy porch is a small room off the kitchen.
This is Matthew Cuthbert's room on the ground floor.
Upstairs is Anne Shirley's bedroom. You can see her cheerful room with a geranium in the window. Hanging on the closet door is the deep brown dress with puffed sleeves that was a gift from Matthew. There's even a broken slate in the room (My photograph of it was blurry, so I haven't posted it).
Here is Marilla Cuthbert's bedroom. I liked her bedspread.
The spare room was very comfortable looking and had a lovely quilt.
The sewing room was a pretty and practical room. The sewing machine was located in front of the window and a spinning wheel was nearby.
The hired boy's bedroom was a simple room located upstairs.
Outside the house were several barns. Matthew's buggy was in front of one, and you could sit in it and pose for a photo.
Here's a photograph of the inside of a barn at Green Gables.
There was a large plot of vegetables being grown in front of a barn.
Lastly, here's a view of the flower gardens at Green Gables. I think Anne would have enjoyed the blooms.
The Green Gables Heritage Place has a large visitor centre with exhibits on L.M. Montgomery that opened in 2019. I visited back in 2006 when the centre was much smaller. The exhibits included L.M. Montgomery's typewriter, which she used to prepare the typeset version of
Anne of Green Gables, and her handwritten lyrics for
"The Island Hymn," which is today the official provincial anthem of Prince Edward Island. I have not seen the new visitor centre in person, but the photos of it online look impressive.
After touring the house and vistor centre, you can stop by the restaurant on site to buy snacks and raspberry cordial. There is also a gift shop that sells Anne-related merchandise and L.M. Montgomery's books.
In addition, the Green Gables Heritage Place includes two special trails. You can take a walk in Anne Shirley or L.M. Montgomery’s footsteps on the
Haunted Wood Trail and the
Lover’s Lane and Balsam Hollow Trail. Both places were important to Montgomery, and she portrayed these settings in
Anne of Green Gables. The Haunted Wood Trail connects with the
Cavendish Cemetery, where L.M. Montgomery's grave is located, as well as the
Site of L.M. Montgomery’s Cavendish Home, where Montgomery once lived and where she wrote
Anne of Green Gables. You can visit these sites and the nearby
Cavendish Post Office, which has a great exhibit on Montgomery, and then return to Green Gables along the Haunted Wood Trail.
Official Websites:
Green Gables Heritage Place, Parks Canada
Green Gables House, Parks Canada
Virtual Tour: Green Gables Heritage Place
Location:
Green Gables Heritage Place
PE-13, Cavendish, PE C0A 1M0, Canada
Image credits:
Photographs by
World of Anne Shirley.
Map copyright
OpenStreetMap.
References:
Green Gables House. Green Gables Heritage Place. Parks Canada. Retrieved from:
https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/pe/greengables/activ/maison-house
MacEachern, Alan. L.M. Montgomery’s Green Gables. The Anne of Green Gables Manuscript. Retrieved from:
https://annemanuscript.ca/stories/l-m-montgomerys-green-gables/
MacEachern, Alan. Myrtle Webb & Her World. The Green Gables Diary. Retrieved from:
https://greengablesdiary.ca/myrtle-webb-her-world/
Montgomery, L.M.
Anne of Green Gables. L.C. Page & Company, 1908.
Montgomery, L.M.
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume II: 1910–1921. ed. Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. Oxford University Press, 1987. page 38–40.
Virtual Tour: Green Gables Heritage Place. Parks Canada. Retrieved from:
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/OgXR54HZxKGSfQ?hl=EN
Created July 17, 2007. Last
updated August 15, 2024.
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