Ontario manse where L.M. Montgomery lived to become museum - Action News
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Ontario manse where L.M. Montgomery lived to become museum

Fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery will soon have a new destination after a group in Ontario has purchased the manse in Norval, Ont. where the famous author lived from 1926 until 1935.

'It's really a great destination and I think they're going to have a ton of tourists'

The manse had been owned by two Presbyterian churches who approached the Heritage Foundation to purchase them so it would be in 'good hands.' (Evan and Bernadeta Milewski/L.M. Montgomery Heritage Society)

Fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery will soon have a new destination a group has purchased the manse in Norval, Ont. where the famous author of Anne of Green Gables lived from 1926 until 1935.

'She lovedNorvalmore than any place in the world saveCavendish.'Lois Fraser, Heritage Foundation ofHalton Hills

The L.M. Montgomery Heritage Society, a committee of the Heritage Foundation of Halton Hills, closed the deal to purchase Lucy Maud Montgomery's home on March 10, 2017.

"Big, big celebrations here, I felt like we had really accomplished something major," said Lois Fraser, president of the foundation.

"I think fans will be delighted to stand where she stood, to be right in the room where she wrote."

Norval is a short drive from the University of Guelph which has an extensive collection of Montgomery's papers and artifacts. (L.M. Montgomery Heritage Society/Facebook)

Two private citizens kicked in $100,000 each towards the purchase and fundraising is now underway to pay off the rest of the mortgage.

One of the donors is related toLucy Maud Montgomery, and actually lived in Green Gables house on P.E.I.

"They came to the Norval community because Maud was here, so we have some of her relatives working on this, which is really exciting," said Fraser.

The fundraising target is $2 million for the creation of the Lucy Maud Montgomery Museum and Literary Arts Centre. (Deb Quaile.L.M. Montgomery Heritage Society/Facebook)

"I think fans everywhere are just thrilled that it's going to be preserved, that we were able to save a piece of history and to keep it for all time," Fraser said.

Mayor Rick Bonnette and members of Halton Hills council, attend the grand opening of the Children's Garden of the Senses located in the Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden in Norval, Ont. (LM Montgomery Heritage Society/Facebook)

Second manse to become a museum

Montgomery moved from Prince Edward Island to Ontario in 1911, when her husband, Presbyterian minister Rev. Ewan MacDonald, took a job in Leaskdale.

The family then moved to Norval, where Montgomery continued to write, producing five novels, many short stories and poems and three volumes of personal journals.

"The room where she wrote her books overlooks a hill of pines that she wrote about in her journals and the pine trees are all still there," said Fraser.

Author Lucy Maud Montgomery lived in Norval, Ont. from 1926 until 1935. (National Archives of Canada/Canadian Press)

"The thing that made me excited was to read her quote that said that she loved Norval more than any place in the world save Cavendish," she added.

"We know where her number one spot was but we'd like to be number two."

'A great destination'

"I can walk down the street in Norval, by that church and that house and it's 1926, you just feel like you stepped back in time," said Mary Beth Cavert, a Montgomery scholar from Minnesota and member of the L.M. Montgomery Literary Society.

"She used everything at her finger tips in her writingso every place she lived contributes in part to what we can glean from and enjoy in her writing," said Cavert.

The Story Girl sculpture in the Children's Garden of the Senses in Norval, Ont. (L.M. Montgomery Heritage Society/Facebook)

Cavert says Montgomery fans and scholars will now a circuit of places to visit in Ontario with connections to the writer, including Norval, Leaskdale and Montgomery's favourite vacation spot, Bala, Ont., which also has a museum.

"I think people always want to visit every single place connected to Montgomery if they know anything about the author," said Cavert.

"It's really a great destination and I think they're going to have a ton of tourists."

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden is located next to the church and manse in Norval, Ont. (LM Montgomery Heritage Society)