The Land that Anne Built

This past August, I had the opportunity to make my first pilgrimage to the Land that Anne Built, AKA Prince Edward Island. I had wanted to visit PEI for years, but I had never managed the trip. In planning this vacation, my DH and I had many discussions about where to go. He was pushing for a quick trip to Nova Scotia, but I held out for PEI. I think he was afraid that I would spend three days dragging him around to every single nook and cranny of PEI that had something to do with L.M. Montgomery or Anne Shirley. It may have been tempting, but I restrained myself and we only spent a day on Anne related sight-seeing. I have to save something for my next visit. ;)

Was the visit worth it? ABSOLUTELY! Not only did I fall in love with PEI, but I loved seeing everything Anne related. Has the province gone overboard? Yes. You can't go into a shop without finding Anne memorabilia. The Anne books are sold everywhere and you can't turn around without hitting an Anne doll. Somehow, though, it works. The whole island is based on tourism and Anne is the tourist lynch pin. The do kitch right in PEI. I was actually very impressed with myself. I did not go crazy with buying souvenirs. I bought a set of the Anne books and not much else. I should have bought the Anne hat (braids included!) but I didn't. Oh, yes, raspberry cordial. I bought four bottles of cordial. Now, to make it perfectly clear, this cordial is NOT the same as the cordial which made Diana Berry sick. This is non-alcoholic cordial; it is basically raspberry pop.

On this trip we went to 1. The Anne of Green Gables Museum 2. L.M. Montgomery's birthplace 3. Green Gables and 4. The Village of Avonlea. As we toured around, I have to admit, it became difficult to tell fact from fiction in the area around Cavendish. The Anne of Green Gables Museaum is the home of L.M. Montgomery's Campbell relatives. It is still owned by the Campbells, but they have opened it up to the public. That is all straight fact. Montgomery spent her summers here as a child and she was married here. When you tour the museum there are lots of photos of Montgomery and you can see her bedroom upstairs. It is when you leave the museum that the fact/fiction line begins to blur.

When my DH and I finished in the museum we went outside and went on "Matthew's Carriage Ride" to see The Lake of Shining Waters. Now, a lake was there, but there isn't really a Lake of Shining Waters. That lake was a literary creation of L.M. Montgomery. Matthew was also a literary creation. There never was a real Matthew Cuthbert. He never took Anne on a carriage ride from the train station to Green Gables. It's hard to remember that, though, when you are in a carriage being pulled by a horse. I was beginning to feel that the fictional characters were real.

This disconnect from reality becomes even more pronounced when we actually reached Green Gables. There is a real house, but the true occupants were not the fictional Cuthberts. The house had belonged to a cousin of L.M. Montgomery's, but you won't find any evidence of them at Green Gables. Green Gables as an attraction (and National Historic Site!?) is all about Anne Shirley. This makes it hard to remember that we are talking about fictional characters. As you tour the house, one of the first rooms you see is Matthew's bedroom. Well, it couldn't REALLY be Matthew's bedroom because he never existed! That doesn't matter at Green Gables, though. The fiction continues when you go upstairs and look at Anne's room. The house is set up like a museum with plexi-glass partitions keeping you from entering the rooms. This adds to the realism of the place.

Realism is completely thrown out the window when you get to the Village of Avonlea. Since Avonlea is not a real place, some enterprising person has created it. For a fee, you can enter through the gates and be transported to Turn of the Century, small-town Canada. There are dirt roads and wooden sidewalks and various buildings to explore. Throughout the day, costumed actors replay scenes from the books. When we were there, Anne was busy hitting Gilbert over the head with a slate. We decided not to stay at the school to participate in Miss Stacey's math class, but that was another option. The village is small, and there are definite anachronisms (Cow's Ice Cream, anyone?) but none of that matters. My DH and I sat in the church for awhile to listen to some gospel music and then explored the barn area. We did not, however, get a chance to milk a cow. It was another way to experience Anne.

The trip offered a great opportunity to learn more about the life of one of my favourite authors as experience a slice of fictional life. I think that PEI, and the town of Cavendish in particular, have it right when it comes to capitalizing on a popular literary figure. I can't wait to go back.

Have any of you taken a literary pilgrimage? If so, where did you go? If not, where would you want to go?