20 - Prince Edward Island, Part 1

Wednesday, July 26th - Today we toured the Cavendish area of PEI.  This area is dominated by Cavendish National Park which was established to protect the beaches and shoreline in this area.  PEI is famous for its red sandstone cliffs and beaches.  In addition, all of the soil of the island is red as you will see.  We drove into the park and walked out to an overlook.  We were immediately impressed by how red the cliffs are as shown in this photo.

This park is also home to one of the most popular beaches on the island as you can see from how crowded it is.

Here are more examples of the red cliffs, they were everywhere.

This area is also famous as the home of "Anne of Green Gables" a novel and multiple sequels that tell the story of a young orphan girl who comes to live with a family in the fictional town of "Avonlea."  The original book was written in 1908 by Lucy Maude Montgomery who was born and lived most her life in this area and the fictional house where Anne lived is based on the farmhouse of her relatives.  The house has been set aside as a National Monument and restored to how it would have looked in the late 19th century.  Here are Pat and I standing out it front of the house with green gables.

And here are photos of the sitting room, dining room, bedroom and pantry.

After lunch we drove to the beach for a better look at it.  It was very busy and here are a couple of photos of the beach.

I'm told that the sand is also redder than you see here but rains wash the color out of it.  So newly exposed sand is red but exposed sand isn't.  It is also redder when it gets wet as you can see along the edge of the shore.  And in case you had forgotten how red the cliffs are here is a reminder.

There are a number of walks that you can take in the park.  This one is across a pond and then into the dune field.  Here is a photo of where it crosses the pond.

And a photo taken across the pond.

One thing we've noticed throughout the Maritimes is how windy it always is.  Here someone is taking advantage of that to put up a kite.

We next went for a walk through some of the fields immediately behind the sand dunes.  All along the PEI coast, farmers have their fields going down almost to the water's edge.  Here is a photo of the sand dunes that back the beaches in this area.

For dinner this evening, we went to the Fisherman's Wharf Lobster Supper restaurant in North Rustico.  It was expensive but they had a 60' salad bar and all you could eat mussels and seafood chowder.  After dinner, we walked across the town park where we were entertained by this local  band.  See the video below.

Cute little girl.  Next we came across this lobster boat that is obviously out of the water for some maintenance.

Next we headed to the shoreline to get a good view of the sunset but first came across this example of the red rocks that make up this cliff.  In this case, birds have been roosting here a lot as evidenced by the droppings.

And here is a shot of the sunset across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

That was it for today.

Thursday, July 27th - There are three coastal loops mapped out on PEI corresponding to the eastern, central and western sections of the island.  Today we are going to drive the central loop which is made up of the northern Green Gable Scenic Drive and the southern Red Sands Scenic Drive.  Our first stop on this drive is the fishing village of French River.  One of the former names for this village was Yankee Hill after the New England fisherman who used to put into the harbor for resupplies from a New England merchant who had set up business here.  Today it is a colorful village on a small harbor off of New London Bay.

In addition to fishing, the locals earn their living farming and throughout PEI you see fields of crops, particularly potatoes growing right up to the waters edge.

During the 1930s and 40s they tried a different type of farming and raised foxes for the fur trade.  However, that didn't last very long.

There were two lighthouses in the French River area.  This is the first of them, the New London lighthouse which dates to 1876.

To get to the second we had to drive down this red dirt road.  You see these roads all over the place in PEI.  Either side of the road is farmer's fields.

Here is the second lighthouse, the Cape Tryon Lighthouse built in 1905.

The cliffs, red of course red, to either side of the lighthouse were home to lots of cormorants.

And here you can see some of them sitting on nests.

Further along the coast we came across this curious cliff formation with what looks likes caves carved out by the waves action.

Just above this cliff was this interesting looking house.

Our next stop was the town of Indian River where we visited St. Mary Roman Catholic Church.  This photo shows the third church built in 1902.  The previous church which had been built in 1842 but struck by lightning and destroyed by fire in 1896.  It is the largest wooden church on PEI.

Here is a close up shot of the gables and statues at the base of the steeple.

Here is a photo of the interior of the church.

And a close up of the altar.

And another view of the interior.

Our next stop was the town of Kensington where we had lunch in this old converted train station.  Very good lunch.

Our next stop was in the small town of Victoria.  Of course it had a lighthouse.

The residents like to call it Victoria-by-the-Sea but its official name is just Victoria.  It was founded in 1819 and for most of the 19th and 20th centuries it was an important port.  However, the Tran-Canada Highway bypassed it and its importance diminished.  Today it is mostly a tourist destination.  Here is a shot up the main street of the town.

Our last stop of the day was Port-la-Joye - Fort Amherst.  Port-la-Joye was a French settlement from 1720 to 1768.  The name given to PEI when originally settled by the French was Isle Saint-Jean and Port-la-Joye was their main settlement and administrative center.  When the French were defeated and had to leave Louisbourg, Nova Scotia they also ceded Isle Saint-Jean to the English.  The English were worried that the French Acadians who inhabited Nova Scotia and PEI would give them a lot of trouble so they began was is now know as "The Great Acadian Upheavel" and deported about 10,000 French Acadians from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI between 1755 and 1762.  Some went back to France, some to the American colonies, some to Louisiana, etc.  This plaque gives some idea off where they went.

Between ship wrecks and disease, thousands died.  the British then destroyed all of Port-la-Joye and built Fort Amherst to protect the harbor.  All that is left today are some mounds where the fortifications were and some holes in the ground where the basement of building were located.  Here is all that you see today.

Right across the harbor is Charlottetown.

There are also three lighthouses.  These two small ones that date from 1907 and protect a small harbor.

And this much larger one that was built in 1856 and is known as the Block House Lighthouse.  This lighthouse guards the entrance to Charlottetown harbor.

With that we headed back to our RV and dinner.

Friday, July 28th - The weather forecast for today is for a rainy afternoon and as we are running out of clean clothes, today will be laundry day.