Room by Room at Green Gables and at Your House

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When I sat down last night to write this morning’s post for you, I was excited to find a comment left by one of you mamasĀ (I’ll call her Marie). Marie said that her grandmother’s family is from Prince Edward Island and that her great-grandmother was a friend of Lucy Maud Montgomery! Marie got to visit PEI herself when she was ten years old and remembers it vividly. Thank you, “Marie,” for sharing that wonderful information with us. Congratulations!

Today I simply want to take you on a tour of the house that inspired Mrs. Montgomery to create Green Gables. As I told you on Friday, a few years before her death Lucy Maud Montgomery was involved in creating a way for her fans to visit the home. Families who live on Prince Edward Island have filled its rooms with their own family heirlooms, so that visitors can picture the imaginary home where imaginary Anne Shirley (with a vivid imagination) lived with imaginary Marilla Cuthbert and her imaginary brother Matthew.

Before going into the house, Ray and IĀ climbed into this carriage. I put on the straw hat and red braids which were waiting there for folks who want to picture themselves as Anne and, in our case, Anne’s beau Gilbert.

Anne and Gilbert in the Carriage
“Anne and her Gilbert” in the Carriage

Green Gables sits on a green hill, overlooking the “Haunted Woods,” through which the real Lucy Maud Montgomery once walked to visit her relatives who lived here.

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Come inside the front door with Ray and me, and I’ll give you a tour.

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This isĀ the parlor where Anne entertained her bosom friend Diana with an alcoholic version of raspberry cordial, quite different from the raspberry cordial bottles of pop Ray and I enjoyed.

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Now let’s goĀ into the dining room.

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Matthew’s room is downstairs.

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Notice his suspenders on the chair beside his bed . . .

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. . . and his hat and cane hanging on the footboard.

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The kitchen has beautiful wood floors, an iron cookstove, a woodbox, and . . .

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. . . and a dropleaf table with chairs. An ironing board in the back corner is topped with a sleeve board.

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The kitchen has shelves and shelves of storage and . . .

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. . . pots of geraniums in the window.

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Off the kitchen is a pantry with a beautiful wooden cupboard.

DSCF7938 (2)Across from the cupboard is a pastry table.

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Another room off of the kitchen served asĀ the dairy porch and had a trap door into the cellar.

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Let’s go back to the entry hall . . .
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. . . and walk upstairs.

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First, let’s go to Anne’s room.

DSCF7979 (2)Here is her bed.

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The dress Matthew bought her–with puffed sleeves–hangs on the back of the closet door.

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And here is the slate she broke over Gilbert Blythe’s head.

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This bedroom is Marilla’s.

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The sewing room is also upstairs.

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At the landing above the back staircase is a rope bed, from which we get the expression, “Sleep tight.” People slept “tight” when their ropes were taut.

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And, now downĀ the back stairs we go . . .

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. . . and out the screen door . . .

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. . . to the backyard.

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Room by room theĀ curators at the Cavendish National Historic Site have filled the rooms of Green Gables, inspired by objectsĀ straight out of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s imagination.

May God give you grace to fill the rooms of your homeĀ with love and knowledge, inspired by the teachings of our heavenly Father.

By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:3-4

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3 Comments

  1. Such a beautiful tour! Thanks so much for taking us.:-)The Anne of Green Gables series is one of our family favorites!

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