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The Lucy Maud Montgomery Heritage Museum, also known as "Ingleside" [the model for Anne and Gilbert's home on Prince Edward Island], is for sale. This magnificent property with its ancient lime trees and views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and LMM's Lake of Shining Waters has been in the Montgomery family for many generations but now the family has reluctantly but firmly reached the decision that it is time for it to be passed to new ownership. 

Maud Montgomery spent many happy times in this home with her father, Hugh John, who was born on this property, and her grandfather Senator Donald Montgomery, as well as her aunts, uncles, and cousins. This is the home where she discovered the green-and-white china dogs called "Gog" and "Magog" that she eventually wrote into the "Anne" series. Other items in the house were written into her books and stories, too: the Rosebud Tea Set (Anne of Green Gables), the Townsend Clock (the "Anne" books and The Story Girl), the China Fruit Basket (The Story Girl) and more. This is also the home she left from to go to western Canada in August 1890. Her much-loved Grandfather Montgomery was to escort her to Prince Albert to live with her father and his new family there. In Kensington, a few miles from Park Corner, they met the special train transporting the Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald who invited them to ride with him and Mrs. Macdonald to Summerside and join in the festivities there in his honour. 

Maud was sixteen years old -- this was her first train ride and her first time to be away from the Island, which was exciting enough, but to meet the great Prime Minister at the same time was a never-to-be forgotten experience. This is also the home she returned to the next year when she came back from Prince Albert.

"Ingleside" was for many years the Montgomery family farm; later Mrs. Heath Montgomery opened it for summer visitors as a bed-and-breakfast. In 1993, Robert Montgomery (the Senator's great-grandson and Maud's cousin) and his family decided the home would be of interest to L. M. Montgomery fans as well as visitors interested in the Island's heritage homes and the Lucy Maud Montgomery Heritage Museum was opened. Hundreds of visitors from all over the world have come to the Museum since then to see first-hand one of the most significant homes associated with Montgomery and her works. Even though some modern amenities have been added since LMM's day (electricity, running water, etc.), the house is still much as she would have known it with its original hardwood floors, hand-painted wood-grained woodwork, etc., and she would surely feel right at home if she were to visit today. 

Should the new owner wish to continue running the Museum, the contents -- including the family heirlooms and artifacts associated with L. M. Montgomery -- can be included in the purchase. Or perhaps new owners will decide to transform it into a bed-and-breakfast (two parlours, dining room, large hallways, six bedrooms, etc.). Of course, one of the bedrooms was considered Maud's when she stayed there and the furniture she used then is still in that room. 

Even though it will be a sad day for many when the Museum is transferred to new owners, it will always be a grand home with many happy memories as well as literary and historical significance.