1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (125 page)

The Land of Anne and Sandy Beaches

Prince Edward Island

Along the northern shores of Prince Edward Island (PEI), deep bays intrude into a pastoral landscape of rolling hills and fields. White steeples dot small villages, and prim farmsteads are flanked by grazing sheep
and orchards. This corner of PEI doesn’t just
look
storybook, it
is
storybook: This is the bucolic setting of
Anne of Green Gables,
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s famed novel of a spunky, red-haired orphan girl coming of age in turn-of-the-20th-century rural PEI. The inspiration for the setting of
Anne
(and the eight books in the series that followed) was Green Gables House, the farm belonging to cousins of Montgomery’s grandfather and now preserved for all to enjoy as part of Prince Edward Island National Park. Montgomery, who was born in the area in 1874, set her novels amid the area’s rich beauty. Translated now into 17 languages and adapted multiple times into films, the book has fan clubs around the world and draws 350,000 visitors annually to the island and its many Anne-related sights. Cavendish is the area’s most-visited town and is on the touristy side, with every other shop dedicated to Montgomery and her adolescent creation while a kitschy theme park called Avonlea re-creates scenes and characters from the books.

Prince Edward Island National Park is more than just Anne’s Land. The park also protects 25 miles of the island’s north-central coast, a unique maritime shoreline of sand spits, dunes, islands, and beaches plus coastal wetlands and forests.

Established in 1876, the active New London Rear Range Lighthouse sits at the mouth of the harbor across from the lovely Cavendish beach.

For convenient accommodations, there are bright, simple cabins right next to Gables House at the Green Gables Bungalow Court, but for more atmosphere, the Kindred Spirits Inn is a fine country hotel with antiques-decorated rooms and suites and an outdoor pool. An easy drive away, Dalvay-by-the-Sea National Historic Site and Heritage Inn is a more evocative choice, especially for visitors seeking access to the beaches. Built in 1895 as a grand summer “cottage” by Alexander MacDonald, a business partner of John D. Rockefeller, and now administered by the park, this seaside Victorian mansion has been a summer resort since the 1930s, offering a TV-and-phone-free environment, simple bright rooms, and chef Andrew Morrison’s excellent cuisine.

W
HERE
: Cavendish is 24 miles/39 km from Charlottetown.
P
ARK
: Tel 902-672-6350;
www.parkscanada.gc.ca/pn-np/pe/pei-ipe
.
G
REEN
G
ABLES
H
OUSE
: Cavendish. Tel 902-963-7874;
www.pc.gc.ca/lhnnhs/pe/greengables
.
When:
May–Oct.
A
VONLEA
: Cavendish. Tel 902-963-3050;
www.avonlea.ca
.
When:
mid-June–mid-Sept.
G
REEN
G
ABLES
B
UNGALOW
C
OURT
: Cavendish. Tel 800-965-3334 or 902-963-2722;
www.greengablesbungalowcourt.com
.
Cost:
from US$53/C$60 (off-peak), from US$84/C$94 (peak).
When:
late June–early Sept.
K
INDRED
S
PIRITS
I
NN
: Cavendish. Tel 902-963-2434;
www.kindredspirits.ca
.
Cost:
from US$98/C$110 (off-peak), from US$151/C$170 (peak).
D
ALVAY
-
BY
-
THE
-S
EA
: Tracadie. Tel 902-672-2048 (summer), 902-672-1408 (winter);
www.dalvaybythesea.com
.
Cost:
from US$223/C$250.
When:
mid-June–Sept.
B
EST TIMES
: July–Aug for the weather; mid-Sept–late Oct for foliage.

Exploring Canada’s Island Province

Prince Edward Island

Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a low-lying, richly agricultural island rising in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Midway in size between Rhode Island and Connecticut, PEI is as pastoral as a
picture book, with tiny towns set among rolling green hills. Its self-reliant lifestyle was nurtured by isolation—for centuries, ferries were the only link to the mainland. Even now, with the island connected to the New Brunswick mainland by the 9-mile Confederation Bridge (completed in 1997), the feel is more sheep pasture than rat race.

Three officially designated driving routes showcase the island’s best features. Kings Byway heads northeast from Charlottetown (see p. 1008), following the coastline of Kings County. It winds through green fields and dozens of small rural hamlets with views onto the Gulf of St. Lawrence and, in clear weather, Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton (see p. 987).

Here in bucolic Kings County, the well-known Inn at Bay Fortune is its own destination. The rambling oceanfront property was originally built in 1910 as the summer home of a Broadway playwright and later served as an ersatz artists colony. Today it’s one of the most comfortable and atmospheric places to stay on PEI, where guests have the option of staying in the main house or the tower. The dining room is easily the most noteworthy in PEI and one of the most acclaimed in the Maritime Provinces, having earned a clutch of stars from guidebooks and much attention on national TV. Chef Renée Lavallée offers innovative, intensely regional cuisine that captures the essence of PEI.

Follow the red clay road to discover PEI’s hidden treasures.

Blue Heron Drive is probably the most traveled (and most commercial) route, as it passes the north shore’s PEI National Park (see p. 1009) and destinations related to L. M. Montgomery and her novel
Anne of Green Gables.
But there are lots of other alluring vignettes along the way, such as in the small fishing village of North Rustico, whose weathered Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant has tanks holding 40,000 pounds of lobsters—guess what’s for dinner?

Lady Slipper Drive, around the west coast, is even more rural, passing lighthouses, fishing villages, and a group of houses in Cap-Egmont made entirely of recycled bottles. Plan your trip to coincide with the Summerside Lobster Carnival in mid-July, which features lobster suppers, music, a parade, a spelling bee, and cardboard boat races.

Get even closer to the rural heart of PEI on the Confederation Trail, a 167-mile rails-to-trails shared-use hiking and biking path running the length of the island. The trail makes it easy to walk from village to village, or inn, and it’s even more popular as a bicycling path. Hearty cyclists can make the trip from one end of the pastoral island to the other in three days, with nights spent at inns or provincial park campgrounds. MacQueen Island Tours offers bike rentals, plus guided, unguided, and custom tours along the Confederation Trail and other rural routes on PEI.

W
HERE
: 337 miles/542 km from Bangor, M
E
.
Visitor info:
Tel 888-PEI-PLAY or 902-368-4444;
www.peiplay.com
.
I
NN AT
B
AY
F
ORTUNE
: Tel 902-687-3745 (summer), 860-563-6090 (winter);
www.innatbayfortune.com
.
Cost:
from US$134/C$150; 5-course prix fixe dinner US$62/C$70.
When:
mid-May–mid-Oct.
F
ISHERMAN’S
W
HARF
R
ESTAURANT
: North Rustico. Tel 877-289-1010 or 902-963-2669;
www.peisland.com/fishermanswharf
.
When:
mid-May–mid-Oct.
Cost:
lobster dinner US$14/C$16.
C
ONFEDERATION
T
RAIL
:
www.gov.pe.ca/visitorsguide/explore/trailmap.php3
.
M
AC
Q
UEEN
I
SLAND
T
OURS
: Charlottetown. Tel 800-969-2822 or 902-368-2453;
www.macqueens.com
.
B
EST TIMES
: June–Aug for hiking and biking; late June–early Sept for Celtic Festival at Summerside’s College of Piping with traditional Scottish entertainment nightly (
www.collegeofpiping.com
); mid-July for Summerside Lobster Carnival (
www.exhibitions-festivalspeiae.com
); 1st weekend in Aug for the Highland Games in Eldon.

Wilderness Grandeur in the Newport of the North

Quebec

An hour northeast of Quebec City along the north shores of the St. Lawrence River, Charlevoix is an area of astonishing natural beauty. The land is rugged, with forests of fir, cedar, and spruce edging into farmland
and the banks of the river rising into rock-faced cliffs. This is such a unique mix of environments and history that UNESCO recognized it in 1988 as a World Biosphere
Reserve, the first time a populated area was so named.

Although the first French traders arrived here in the 1670s, it was in the next century, after the English began driving the French Acadians from the Maritime Provinces, that Charlevoix was truly settled. Charlevoix’s beauty began to attract travelers, and during the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, a summer influx of wealthy American families began requiring ever more opulent resorts. The Charlevoix villages known collectively as Murray Bay (in French, La Malbaie and Pointe-au-Pic) were the nexus of this “Newport of the North.”

The clifftop Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu has stood above the St. Lawrence since 1899 (the current structure was built after a fire in 1928). This castlelike 405-room hotel perfectly captures Charlevoix’s blend of quiet countryside charm, wilderness grandeur, and world-class resort life. In addition to sumptuous guest rooms, a tunnel connection to the Casino de Charlevoix, a pampering spa, and a number of dining choices, it is the great outdoors that has long lured most guests. The area has become a year-round destination and offers myriad opportunities for hiking, biking, kayaking, and canoeing at two nearby national parks. For the less wilderness-minded, the resort’s golf club offers 27 scenic holes of golf on a bluff above the river.

Charlevoix’s dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands, and bays.

A far more intimate alternative is the Auberge La Pinsonnière, an upscale 26-room country inn where a delicious air of country luxury prevails. Expect marvelous views (some overlooking Murray Bay), comfortably elegant furnishings, an impressive art collection, and impeccable service. Topping it all is the hotel’s famous restaurant, widely considered the best in Charlevoix and beyond, with an award-winning 12,000-bottle wine cellar that is the inn’s point of pride.