When Ewan Macdonald,  a newly ordained Presbyterian minister, came to Ontario in 1911 from Prince Edward Island, it would have been quite a change in place for both Ewan and his wife Maud, L.M. Montgomery, the up and coming author. Away from the island where they had both grown up. Away from the sea that Maud loved to walk along. Away from people they had known all their lives.

The parishes at Leaskdale and Zephyr were probably very excited to have a famous author in their community and in their church, for the first edition of  Anne of Green Gables had been published several years earlier in 1908.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front of  the manse with many flower plantings.

The manse dates  to 1896, became an Ontario Historical Site in 1965 and  a National Historic Site in 1997.

The manse, lived in by other ministers’ families before and after the Macdonald’s, has a strong physical structure and was restored to the period style, aided by the many detailed descriptions Maud wrote in her journals. The furniture, purchased at auctions or donated, matches the same historical period as well. According to the brochure about the site, “the landscape has not changed greatly either. This is where she (L.M. Montgomery) stood. … This is what inspired her.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The settee in the parlour where they would receive guests who came to visit.

Maud loved to sit in a chair by the front window to write so she could be aware of people coming to the house. This room is where she sat, writing longhand, for all of the books that she wrote there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A portrait of Ewan (above)  in the rich gold frame sitting on the organ in the parlour (below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would Maud have played an organ? I have yet to read journal entries to learn the answer to my question. It’s  a question I didn’t think to ask of our tour guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bookcase  in the study across the hall with Maud’s published books.

Was it such a book case that inspired Montgomery to write about lonely Anne’s friend inside the bookcase?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Across the hall was the minister’s study, where Ewan wrote his sermons and where Maud typed her manuscripts for the publisher. If I remember correctly, the typewriter sitting on the desk was a vintage Underwood.

Nothing remains of Ewan’s sermons or notes, which the Historical society noted, but plenty remains of Montgomery’s journals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide, Lindsay, telling us about the manse and restoration that she was involved with.

Our guide said that people restoring the manse looked to LM Montgomery’s detailed journals for descriptions of patterns on wallpaper, then went to places that recreated historical patterns to obtain wallpaper that matched her descriptions as closely as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The richly carpeted stairs going to the second floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was Maud and Ewan’s bedroom with a special quilt,  created by people of the L. M.Montgomery Society and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Replicas of Gog and Magog, Maud’s ceramic dogs as shown in one of her Anne books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A painting hanging in the front entrance, created by artist Arnold Hodgkins, who was born in 1911 in Silverdale, Ontario.  Encouraged from a young age to draw and paint, Arnold continued to explore his talents. This painting represents Maud’s early life. Go here to learn more about the painting.

Go to Leaskdale, Ontario, and see the site for yourself. You’ll learn more about the famous Canadian author, L. M. Montgomery.

“I cannot remember the time when I was not writing, or when I did not mean to be an author.” L. M. Montgomery

Part II coming later this week about our tour of the St. Paul’s Church, one of Ewan’s first parish churches.

Photos on this blog copyright of C. Wilker 2012.