Green Gables Redevelopment Project Completion

Green Gables Heritage Place
Federal Infrastructure Investment

Green Gables Heritage Place 
Green Gables Heritage Place is a part of L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish National Historic Site and served as inspiration for the setting of Anne’s fictional home in L.M. Montgomery’s classic novel “Anne of Green Gables”, published in 1908. The late 19th century farmhouse belonged to cousins of the author and has been carefully restored to reflect the period of the iconic novel, right down to the furnishings in the rooms. The site includes the house and barnyard as well as the natural surroundings that inspired the author’s imagination and her fiction such as the Haunted Wood, the site of the schoolhouse, Lover’s Lane, and the babbling brook.

Project name: Green Gables Heritage Place Redevelopment
Project Total: $11 M
Project description: Over the past three years, Green Gables Heritage Place has undergone a major site redevelopment project to improve visitor experience, site facilities and accessibility. With most of the work now largely completed, these improvements include a new visitor centre, gift shop, and café, as well as updated exhibits and other interpretive elements. The new visitor centre houses the new gift shop, ticketing, orientation area, exhibits, and washrooms. The parking lot has been reconfigured to increase capacity. New exterior interpretive panels along the trails at the site will soon be complete.

Renovation to the first floor of Green Gables House will soon be completed to improve accessibility. Some interior doorways will be widened following peak season to complete the accessibility improvements. The front porch has been removed and raised and the landscaping work in front of the house has been completed. 

The new site layout is based on operational requirements and is designed to refresh the visitor experience, address visitor flow patterns, and upgrade facilities so they better meet the needs of our visitors. The new visitor centre building also meets stringent Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements. 

The interpretive exhibits have been developed based on the Green Gables interpretive themes. Six sub-themes were identified during the master planning phase of the redevelopment. These have guided the development of revised interpretation and visitor experience and include: imagination, beauty, friendship, belonging, freedom and self. Parks Canada also worked with the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island to share the story of Indigenous people in Cavendish in this interpretive media.

The exhibit focusses on Montgomery, her writing career, her most famous novel, Anne of Green Gables, and the impact this story has had and continues to have on people around the world. The colours and textures were inspired by the colours of PEI. The development of the design included ongoing feedback received from members of a special Exhibit Advisory Committee made up of key stakeholders, as well as ideas and information that were gathered at public meetings throughout the project. 

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