Green Gables Heritage Place
Green Gables and Prince Edward Island National Park
Green Gables and Prince Edward Island National Park
Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery
Did you know that...
Green Gables is located in Prince Edward Island National Park, which was set aside in 1937 to protect for all time the coastal landscape characteristic of the Maritime Plain natural region. It includes lengthy spans of sand dunes, fresh water ponds, salt marshes, and forests. In 1998, six kilometres of the Greenwich Peninsula were added to Prince Edward Island National Park, to protect unique dune formations, rare plants and animals, as well as archaeological findings dating back 10 000 years. The park also includes cultural landmarks such as Green Gables and Dalvay-by-the-Sea National Historic Site.
Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery
Green Gables has become famous around the world as the inspiration for the setting in Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic tale of fiction, Anne of Green Gables. In real life, this farm was the home of David Jr. and Margaret Macneill, who were cousins of Montgomery's grandfather. The farm was first settled in 1831 by David Macneill Sr. Although L.M. Mongomery never lived here, she grew up nearby with her grandparents. She came to know her cousins' farm through her explorations of the surrounding woodlands and places she discovered and named such as Lover's Lane and the Haunted Wood. Soon after Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908, people began coming to Cavendish in search of Green Gables, along with the other places and people of Avonlea in the novel. Most of what Montgomery describes in her book was the product of her own creativity, sometimes complemented by the inspiration of a real-life setting.
Green Gables house with farm outbuildings in background© Parks Canada / John Sylvester, 1998" Cavendish is to a large extent Avonlea. Green Gables was drawn from David Macneill's house, 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 everyone has recognized it. "
L.M. Montgomery, The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol. II, Friday, Jan.27, 1911.
Montgomery's spiritual connection to her home community continued throughout her life. As a minister's wife living in Ontario, the author's occasions to return home were limited, yet all but one of her 20 novels have Prince Edward Island as the main setting. Montgomery often visited or stayed with the Webb family at Green Gables during return visits to the Island, and when she died in 1942, she was buried in the Cavendish cemetery. Shortly after her death, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada recognized L.M. Montgomery as being a person of national historic significance and a monument and plaque were erected at Green Gables.
Did you know that…
1. As a child, Montgomery hated wearing high buttoned boots. She liked to go barefoot as most of the children did. Little did she know at the time that those boots were envied by the other girls in class.
2. Montgomery's first publication was "The Legend of Cape Leforce", a poem printed in a Charlottetown newspaper when she was only 15. 1. Before the funeral service for Lucy Maud Montgomery in April 1942, people visited Green Gables (still Montgomery's friends' home at the time) to pay their respects to the author and her family.
L.M. Montgomery, 1908
Around the time Anne of Green Gables was published.© Parks Canada, 19083. In 1883, the Marco Polo, once known as the fastest sailing ship in the world, was driven ashore off Cavendish. One of the many Cavendish residents to witness this was the 9 year old Lucy Maud Montgomery, who went on to publish a poem recounting the event.
4. Before it became known as Green Gables, the house and farm belonged to David and Margaret Macneill, neighbours and cousins of Montgomery. Later, David and Margaret's niece, Mrytle, married Ernest Webb and they raised their family and operated the farm until they sold it to become part of Prince Edward Island National Park in 1936.
5. Before marrying Reverend Ewan Macdonald in 1911 at her Campbell cousins' home in Park Corner, L.M. Montgomery and Macdonald were secretly engaged for 5 years.
6. On 19th century farms, people produced most of what they needed to survive. For example, according to the 1861 census, the Macneill's produced 360 pounds of cheese and 260 pounds of butter. Any surplus could be traded with neighbours or merchants for other goods or services.
7. Before it was provided with a proper name and a place in literary history, Lover's Lane was a humble cowpath leading to back pastures on the Macneill/Webb farm.
8. Anne of Green Gables was the first novel which L.M. Montgomery published. This was in 1908 by the L.C. Page Co. of Boston, Massachusetts.
9. Approximately 6 000 Japanese people (or 3% of total visitation) visit Green Gables each year.
10. Some incidents described in Anne of Green Gables were inspired by real life. When Anne puts liniment instead of vanilla into a cake she's baking, L.M. Montgomery was remembering the following occasion. Her landlady at one of the homes where she boarded while teaching mistakenly "flavoured" a cake with liniment, and the gentleman to whom it was served enjoyed it greatly!
11. L.M. Montgomery's works are widely read in Poland, among many other countries. The first non-English version of Anne of Green Gables was in Swedish, in 1909.
12. L.M. Montgomery was the first Canadian female author to be made a member of the Royal Society of Arts and Letters of London, England.
13. In a personal letter to Montgomery, Mark Twain once called Anne the "most lovable childhood heroine since the immortal Alice."
14. Before the funeral service for Lucy Maud Montgomery in April 1942, people visited Green Gables (still Montgomery's friends' home at the time) to pay their respects to the author and her family.
15. L.M. Montgomery was declared to be a person of national historic significance in 1943.