I have to wonder what Prince Edward Island would be like had
Lucy Maud Montgomery not been born. Much
of the popularity of the Cavendish area of the island is owed to her. I wouldn’t have necessarily understood that
if I didn’t have the habit of reading a book set in a place I am planning to
visit. The book I chose for PEI was the
classic Anne of Green Gables, written
by L.M. Montgomery. Reading it made me wonder how in the world I
missed it in my youth. I read
everything I could get my hands on back in the day. I still do but my tastes have been refined to
deal with the overload of books and the underload of time.
When I mentioned a few blog entries ago that I hadn’t read
the book as a kid, I got an interesting comment from Blogger friend, Beth of “E.”Lizard Breath Speaks. She said, “ok - i
have to address something 1st - (not yelling, just totally shocked??!) you have
NEVER READ ANNE of green Gable???!! what????!?! are you kidding me. i have read
& seen the movies a billion million times. wow, i am laying on the floor.
that is so wild. can't wait to hear you thoughts. i know you will love it. such
a great story. as a kid i played Diana, i would never pull it off as Anne - i
loved the play. it was such fun. ( :”
SO, I am dedicating this post to Beth.
I think she would really love going up to Cavendish and seeing where
Anne (with an “e”) roamed around. And I did love the book, by the way.
If you go, stop in here first. It's a small museum of Montgomery's life and there are relatives of hers there hanging out who talk about her early life on PEI.
Then they direct you toward the Haunted Wood Trail, which is
part of the Green Gables Heritage Place.
This wood is said to have inspired her description of the hollow
described in the Green Gables books. Along
the trail are placards that talk about Montgomery’s life and have quotes like
this one:
 |
| Yes, it rained that day. |
The wood opened up onto the area where the
Green Gables house sits. It pretty much
matched my imagination, but then my imagination is nothing compared to Anne’s.
This is what Anne’s room might have looked like.
And out in the barn, we actually met Anne who
roamed around and greeted people. This
young woman did a nice job staying in character.
I have to say, that I have added the rest of the
Anne books to my list of things I have to read one of these days. But you know how it goes…so many books, so
little time. But if we manage to get back
to PEI in the future, it will give me an excuse to pick one up. Unfortunately, so many places, so little
money and so many obligations that keep you stuck in one place. But a person can hope and dream, can’t
one? Here’s what Anne said about it, “Oh, it's
delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never
seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain
to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make
life so interesting.”
