After traversing the rolling green mountains of the north shore of Nova Scotia in foggy, rainy, conditions, the sun peeked through for our entrance onto Prince Edward Island by way of the 9 mile ride over the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the Confederation Bridge, only completed in 1997. Before then, it was a ferry ride out of New Glasgow. We made our way to a meal of PEI mussels and shrimp in Cornwall. The Prince Edward Island mussels are renown and they deserve all their accolades—soft, succulent, and delicious with garlic butter. After lunch, we took Colette for a long walk around Charlottetown which is the central city of this province and where Canada began their history as a confederation. It is a lively, waterfront city with a museum, performing arts center, and the historic government building. The churches and old waterfront homes are well preserved and provide a glimpse into the early colonial architecture of the island. After a nice walk, we headed to our campground on the West River outside of Cornwall for the night.
The beauty of PEI is its coastal red cliffs, oceanside farms (mainly potatoes and beef) , and seaside fishing villages; however the central area does not suffer for pleasing sights with its gentle, rolling hills and its green, and I mean really green, pastures separated by groves of evergreen trees. In fact, the license plate for PEI reads “Canada”s Green Province.” There are three coastal drives: North Cape Coastal, Central Coastal, and Points East Coastal. We drove all of the Central Coastal and major portions of the other two areas based on things we wanted to see. Our first day took us to Pont-La-Joye-Fort Amherst historical site overlooking the harbor of Charlottetown where the French and later British established their presence to protect the harbor as the area was desired for its fertile ground and wonderful fishing. In fact, the Acadians were the first here in 1604 but they suffered at the hands of the British in the “Grand Derangement” that I wrote of in the last post from Nova Scotia. That part of history is very strong in these Maritime Provinces as we have encountered it everywhere there is some history to experience. We drove the South coastal road—even some parts of their “famous” red dirt roads. The village of Victoria was especially charming before we took a break in Summerside at the visitor’s center. They strongly recommended that we see the “maison de botteilles” up the coast. We found our way there and for the first time were almost thwarted in getting somewhere we desired with the RV. The house of bottles had a small parking area and was crowded with 10-12 cars and some others parked on the “side” of the road, mostly the road because of the lack of road shoulders. However, not to be deterred, we found a side road with a “yield intersection” about 100 yards away. So we angled the vehicle on the wider pavement across from the sign, put on my emergency flashers, had some wine and cheese, walked to the attraction, and enjoyed the popular tourist site. The house was constructed by Edouard Arsenault in 1980. He was the lighthouse keeper at Cap-Egmont and must have needed something to do. There was no recycling at that time, so he collected over 10,000 different bottles and built a house. The surrounding folk, hearing of his endeavor, started bringing him bottles. Voila, a house was constructed. He later surrounded the house with a chapel and tavern made of bottles, the here and the hereafter covered!
Then we drove back to the north shore of the central coast to a campsite in the Prince Edward Island National Park near Cavendish. We decided to take some time to hike here and the next day we hiked early in the park along the red cliffs and the sandy beaches of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, then walked into Cavendish for breakfast. Before hiking back along the coast, we visited the homesite of L. M. Montgomery ( Maud), the author of “Anne of Green Gables.” She lived here with her grandparents after her mother died when she was an infant. We got to talk to the great-great grandson of her grandparents at a bookstore on the site. The family still has a presence here and rightly so since she made this village and the area famous. Even the coastal road is the “Green Gable Trail.” The books of Anne have never been out of print for 103 years and have been translated into 36 languages with over 50 million copies sold. It was a juvenile girl’s book and Jan remembers the book. For me, I will never read the book but delving into the life of the author makes this area and its history come alive and much more memorable. *
We departed the campground the following day and drove along the north shore of PEI and into another section of the national park along the ocean with its large dunes before going to St. Peter’s Bay for no other reason than Jan wanted a “touchstone” to Peter, our grandchild. However, I did discover the purpose of long black ropes in the water. We had noticed them several other times. Apparently you can drop a rope in these bays and little mussels cling to them; however the ropes and little mussels have to be moved to rivers in about 10 days or the number that keep clinging suffocate the initial “clinger-ons.” In the river, the little fellows develop into those world renowned PEI mussels and you have yourself a mussel farm. We dropped down onto the southeastern shore and the weather accentuated its natural beauty, blue sky, sun, and even a more pronounced green landscape with some vineyards along the cliffs. The lighthouses are many and stand out along the coast. However, chasing some of the views can be trouble. We followed the route to one and found ourselves at a dead end with little wiggle room. Having achieved some skill with this vehicle, I was able to three way turn with a little help from a private drive. We did experience two beautiful red and white lighthouses, one at Panmure Island which we were able to climb, and tthe other at Bear Cove which has a Marconi Museum due to the significance of the wireless in the early part of the century assisting iceboats coming over from Nova Scotia. In fact, it was here where the first transmission from the sinking Titanic off the Newfoundland coast was received. Also we couldn’t help but marvel at the “beach-goers” on Panmure Island beach in their shorts lounging in their beach chairs, even some swimmers, while we were with jackets and feeling rather cool!
We drove west on PEI to our campground on the bay at Cornwall once again commenting on the nautral landscape and the landscaping of the inhabitants. Every home has its green manicured lawn decorated with symmetrical and organized gardens and flower-beds that surround the house. We saw many people cutting their lawns and even cutting the ditches in front along the highway. Maybe having a lawn tractor and an altruistic nature can get one a tax break? The following morning we left PEI. However to leave PEI, you pay a $43 toll to exit on the 9 mile Confederation bridge. They do not charge you to use the bridge on gaining access to PEI—they must want you to stay? That would be rather nice, except for the winters if you are from the South.
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