Anne of Green Gables Map

Enchanted at the Train Station

I had never read Anne of Green Gables before, but after a recommendation from a reader (thank you, Emily!), I bought the book—and I was completely captivated already at the train station by Anne’s wonderful personality. As Anne, during the rest of the journey, experiences and describes the beautiful landscape and talks about how happy she is to finally have a family, it makes it all the more heartbreaking when you, as a reader, know that she will not be allowed to stay.

I wanted to capture that very moment in the map and decided to show the journey from Nova Scotia and then zoom in on Avonlea at sunset as they approach Green Gables. Avonlea is based on Cavendish, where Montgomery grew up, so you can recognize certain details from there, while others are altered or entirely fictional.

I found quite a few beautiful maps while searching for references. On the map below, the house where Montgomery grew up is marked with “P.O.” because her grandparents, Alexander and Lucy Woolner Macneill, ran the village post office. The house that inspired Green Gables was located on a long, narrow plot near Montgomery’s home and was owned by her older relatives, the siblings Margaret and David Macneill. It was also home to “Lover’s Lane,” a wooded path that wound along the back of the Macneill property.