Destination: Anne of Green Gables

Prince Edward Island // Travel Tips // Joel and Amber Photography

Last week our Prince Edward Island wanderlust hit the blog. As I stared at the 166 pictures I prepped for that blog post, I knew I needed to do something drastic. A hundred and sixty-six pictures is pretty intense for even the most adventure-blog-post-loving person to scroll through.

And that’s how Anne of Green Gables came about having her very own special blog post. She was obviously one of the reasons we visited the fair isle of the Prince, so she’s more than worthy of a little extra attention.

Some days I won’t admit it, but I do realize that Anne is just an imaginary literary character. Something I adore about LM Montgomery and the Anne series is how vivid and real the characters become.

When you visit the places where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived and wrote, you get to see the real stuff. There’s really a Lake of Shining Waters, by the way. As you walk through the places she also walked, you start to realize how much her books were inspired by this island that she loved.

I know tons of you have been waiting for this blog post, and I’m super excited to bring you along on our Anne of Green Gables day on Prince Edward Island!

Destination: Anne of Green Gables

And starting our tour is the face of a very excited, very happy girl who is living one of her literary dreams. :)

Green Gables Heritage Place

Our first stop was Green Gables Heritage Place. They modeled after the book, so it’s not authentic to LMM. But…it was great. They made you feel like the setting of Green Gables came to life.

This is the place where you walk past Anne’s bedroom (complete with the hair dye bottle and the broken slate), wander through the Haunted Woods, and sip on raspberry cordial.

Definitely worth a stop, for sure!

The details they put into Anne’s bedroom were really well thought out. It was like stepping into the book.

And you know they had to add the infamous broken slate in there somewhere. Not like Anne would hang onto it for sentimental reasons or anything…

There are always exceptions to be made for sentiment’s sake when it comes to bringing fiction to life.

There are pictures of Lucy Maud Montgomery around the house, and it’s fascinating to be able to connect her real life with what she wrote in her stories.

A little touristy with the signs, but we wandered through the woods that inspired Anne’s Haunted Wood.

Lover’s Lane!

We headed back to the house and indulged in some raspberry cordial before heading to our next Anne destination.

Spoiler alert: It was just raspberry soda. You win some, you lose some.

Avonlea Village

We made a stop at Avonlea Village, but they were mostly closed for the winter. Definitely touristy, but I bet it would be a pretty neat place in the summer!

Funny fact: It seemed like 75% of everything touristy closed by the end of September. With a few exceptions of early closers, we made it with 2 weeks to spare. Whew!

Lucy Maud Montgomery Birthplace

Our next stop was LMM’s birthplace. If you have any claim to Anne fame that you can turn into a tourist attraction, you definitely want to take advantage of it! Ha!

There were a few interesting things here, but it wasn’t my favorite Anne place. It might be good for people who want to see old scrapbooks or notes written by LMM. They had the cradle that she used as a baby and her wedding dress, too. Definitely teeny tiny and hard to move around in. So if you’re seriously hardcore into the history of LMM, put it on your list. If not, I’d recommend putting your $10 admission fee toward more of the epic local seafood!

LM Montgomery’s wedding dress:

Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush

Now this next placewas totally worth the admission fee! One of our last Anne stops was the Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush. This was the home of LMM’s aunt and uncle Campbell. One of her favorite places and the “wonder castle of her childhood”, so much of this place inspired places and events in her novels.

You can see the Lake of Shining Waters from an upstairs window. Anne’s enchanted bookcase with her friend, Katie, is here. There are so many ties between LMM’s real life and the world of Anne that it was by far my favorite Anne stop.

You can even get a ride with Matthew in his carriage. Tourism, you know… But tourism at its best, in this case.

Maybe my favorite pictures from the whole trip?? Soooo cute!

Do you see the Lake of Shining Waters from the upstairs window?

So of course we ran over to get a closer look.

One happy girl and one sweet husband who willingly came along.

I hope you enjoyed a little peek into our day in Anne land! I’m a classic literature loving girl, and it was a dream come true.

{P.S. If you haven’t browsed through our Wanderlust: Prince Edward Island yet, you won’t want to miss it!}

*hugs*

Amber