Pilgrimage to Green Gables

Anne Country- by Hilde Garcia

L. M. Montgomery as a child

A photo taken near the end of her life.

You never know what peace is until you walk on the shores or in the fields of Prince Edward Island on a summer twilight when the dew is falling and the old old stars are peeping out and the sea keeps its nightly trust with the little land it loves.  You find your soul then- you realize that youth is not a vanished thing but something that dwells forever in the heart. And you look around on the dimming landscape of haunted hill and murmuring ocean, of homestead lights and old fields, tilled by dead and gone generations who loved them- and you say, “I have come home.”

From the L. M. Montgomery Journals, Vol. 61, 4/9/1936

From the moment I set eyes on the southern shores of P. E. I., my life-long desire for this pilgrimage had come to fruition. My heart swelled at the sight of the red cliffs, the rolling green hills, and sloping farmlands peppered throughout the landscape.

This is the Lake of Shining Waters

Anne Country.  That’s what the northern shore is called by the guardians of the island- the fine people who keep the spirit of kindred alive every day, and in a way, keep L. M. Montgomery alive too.  We have been so welcome here.

Our 6 bedroom, 1800’s farm house, Annandale, is located outside of Kensington in Long River.  It's so like Green Gables, I feel I’ve traveled in a time warp. Annadale's former owner, Victoria Howatt, sang at Maud’s wedding and had tea with her in the very kitchen where I made cookies this week.  Here are photos of all the bedrooms. My family and I played musical beds all week to try them all!

My cookies have now traveled to P. E. I. Canada

Silver Bush was Maud’s favorite place according to her journals.  This was the homestead of John and Annie Campbell, L. M. Montgomery’s aunt and uncle.  It’s now the home to the Anne of Green Gables Museum.  She spent her happiest times there and eventually was married in their downstairs parlor.

Silver Bush

My family and I took a carriage ride with “Matthew”- (his real name is Donald)- over the lake of Shining Waters and to the sea.  She wrote four novels about Silver Bush- Pat of Silver Bush, Mistress Pat, The Story Girl, and The Golden Road.

Lover's Lane, behind the home of Silver Bush

Matthew aka Donald getting the horses ready for a carriage ride.

I had the pleasure of meeting Pam Campbell, a descendent of Aunt Annie and Uncle John, who runs the AGG Museum now. Pam's brother and wife own the property.  Pam grew up not a fan of Anne, wanting to be far away from this shrine, only to return as an adult, discovering Anne for the first time, succumbing to her irresistible charm.  Is there anyone Anne doesn’t eventually enchant?

Pam Campbell, my daughter, and Lady.

Maud, as she was called by those who knew her, was born in the town of Clifton, which is now called New London.  At 21 months old, she went to live at the Cavendish home of her maternal grandparents.  

The home in Clifton where she was born

The Cavendish home is no longer standing, but the "real" Green Gables, the home of David Montgomery Jr. and his sister, Margaret, cousins of Maud's grandfather, is and it's where Maud spent most of her days and where her inspiration for Anne derived.  

The "real" Green Gables in Cavendish

John Macneill, a great-grandson of Alexander and Lucy Macneill, and his wife Jennie, live on this farmland, which was passed down to them through generations of Macneills.  They carefully restored the site and tend it.  I met them both, really, and their granddaughter also named Jennie, who works at the bookstore on their property. (Granddaughter Jennie is the 6th generation Macneill).

Jennie Macneill (wife of John Macneil) tending the Montgomery garden.

The Bookstore on the site of the Cavendish Home.  Jennie, the granddaughter, is inside tending the bookstore.  Her grandfather told me the funniest story about the snow being so high this winter, that he took the sled and went down the hill from the second floor!  A kindred spirt to Anne indeed.  He was a child when Maud passed away.

We spent a day in the Avonlea village, which pays homage to a simpler way of life. This village allows you to step back in time.  So my daughter and I did by dressing for the part.  We dyed wool with Ms. Rachel Lynde, played games with the Avonlea school children (excellent performers), sat in the schoolhouse where Maud taught in the town of Belmont. (The actual school house was brought to this village in its entirety as was the church and the manse.)  

I called my daughter, Anne.  My son loved the pig races and my husband loved the school concert at the end of the day.  We ended up coming back on Friday and spent an additional morning playing.  It was so hard to leave.

Growing up, I read to escape my world and L. M.’s world was captivating.  Her descriptions of the people from this island transcended country, culture, and time.  Their plight was intoxicating and I couldn’t get enough of them.  I could find part of me in every story, in every book.  When I arrived here, it was like a tryst I’d kept with my soul, for I promised myself more than three decades ago that I would travel to this idyllic place.

And travel I did and it was the road that made all the difference.

My children running down the lane to our cottage.  It was a third of a mile and it did them in!

And why does she speak to me? An immigrant Cuban girl from Hialeah, Florida of no particular importance, with no great claim to fame?  We couldn’t be farther apart or more different.  What could we possibly share? Well, for one, a love of books, a love of words.  A need to hold on to the past? An inexhaustible spirit, like Anne’s?

During a time when women were meant to stay home, Maud defied those constraints by becoming a published author, repeatedly, while being a wife and a mother.  Her works have been in print for more than 100 years, and are still cherished by young and old.  What she wrote is as relevant today as it was then.  Her published journals and letters give us a glimpse of who this woman really was and those only make you cherish her works more deeply.

Especially if you consider that she typed her entire body of work, after writing it longhand in many cases, on this typewriter. No copy and paste feature at all!

Being here is powerful and magical. The island’s charm is a warm glow that stays with you while you are on the island. And even once you leave.

On the Annandale porch. Right after this was taken, we packed in a rush to leave in order to beat Hurricane Arthur. We left that night at 11pm, drove all night, and hit the storm in Maine, outside of Bangor, where we pulled over to wait it out.  It's a good thing we did.  Nova Scotia was hit that morning, all flights were canceled, and more than 100,000 homes were without power.

Saturday, 5pm, 18 hours of driving later and through the storm, we arrive at JFK and return our Canadian rental car. Don't let the photo fool you, we are so tired, we were absolutely punch drunk. We all promptly crashed when Grandpa took us home!

The following words I read in a foreword of a book I bought.  They ring so true in my heart and when I read them this week, every road and country lane on P. E. I. was sunlit bright, like the beams of light that lanterns from lighthouses shine on sailors so they can find their way home.

"Everything L. M. Montgomery taught me was more valuable than any of the history lessons I learned later, and for me she is the writer who understands more than anyone what it is to come out of a country that was basically rural and become a player on the world stage because of circumstances.  I understand the continuing appeal of her work because I have never forgotten it.  I have never considered it to be a ‘childish thing.’  I have never put away L. M. M.  I love her to this day.”

-by the Right Honourable Adrieanne Clarkson, PC, CC, CMM, CD-

the 26^th Governor General of Canada

Foreward in Imagining Anne-

The Island Scrapbooks of L. M. Montgomery.

I have never put her away.

I love her to this day.

I found my way home.

 

This is real estate for sale.  So tempting!

MONTGOMERY’S BODY OF WORK

Her Works

NOVELS
1908	Anne of Green Gables
1909	Anne of Avonlea
1910	Kilmeny of the Orchard
1911	The Story Girl
1913	The Golden Road
1915	Anne of the Island
1917	Anne's House of Dreams
1919	Rainbow Valley
1920	Rilla of Ingleside
1923	Emily of New Moon
1925	Emily Climbs
1926	The Blue Castle
1927	Emily's Quest
1929	Magic for Marigold
1931	A Tangled Web
1933	Pat of Silver Bush
1935	Mistress Pat
1936	Anne of Windy Poplars
1937	Jane of Lantern Hill
1939	Anne of Ingleside

POETRY
1916	The Watchman and Other Poems
1987	The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
1912	Chronicles of Avonlea
1920	Further Chronicles of Avonlea
1974	The Road to Yesterday
1979	The Doctor's Sweetheart
1988	Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans
1989	Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea
1990	Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side
1991	After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed
1993	Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement
1994	At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales
1995	Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence
1995	Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories

JOURNALS
1985	The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume I: 1889-1910
1987	The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume II: 1910-1921
1992	The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume III:1921-1929
1998	The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume IV:1929-1935
2004	The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume V:1935-1942

LETTERS
1960	The Green Gables Letters: from L.M. Montgomery Ephraim Weber, 1905-1909
1990	My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. MacMillan from L.M. Montgomery
2006	After Green Gables: L.M. Montgomerys Letters to Ephraim Weber, 1916-1941

ESSAYS
1934	Courageous Women

LYRICS
1907	The Island Hymn

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1917	The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career

To learn more about her and this beautiful island, visit these links:

Site of the Cavendish Home:                       http://www.peisland.com/lmm

Site of Green Gables Heritage Home:         http://www.parkscanada.gc.ca/greengables

Site of the Campbell Homestead:                 http://www.annemuseum.com

Site of L. M.'s Birthplace:                            No website. The number is 902-886-2099

Site of the L. M. Montgomery Institute:       http://www.lmmontgomery.ca/