Hello P.E.I.

Our first glance of PEI -- a lighthouse and red soil

       We arrived in Prince Edward Island on June 13 after crossing from Caribou, Nova Scotia on a ferry.  Until we started researching P.E.I., we did not know that there was still a ferry service, thinking that it had been replaced by the Confederation Bridge which opened in 1997.  As it turns out, the ferry is still quite essential as it links Nova Scotia to the eastern end of the island and provides an alternate route for goods.

Welcome to Montague -- The sign needs a little bit of brightening up

     We are living in Montague which is only a 30 minute drive from the ferry terminal and 30 minutes from Charlottetown, in the other direction.  Actually, we live in the rural community of Lower Montague, a less than 10-minute drive to downtown Montague. The population of Montague is 1,834 (2016) whereas the population of all of P.E.I. is 142,907 (2016). It is the third-largest town in the province. Living in a small town will be a new experience. There are two grocers (Superstore and Sobey's), a small museum, McDonald's, Tim Hortons, KFC, and a small mall that has no more than 10 stores in it (the Sears store closed earlier in 2017), a hospital, a Home Hardware, a Kent building supply store, various restaurants and bars, a library, curling club, wellness centre with arena and a few fitness clubs.

     This year Montague is celebrating 100 years as a town so there are a number of activities happening in town. We hope to participate in a few of them.

This is the house we are renting. In 1922, this building was built as a church.
Below, is a photo of the church. You can still see some of the features from the church.
But to look at it now you would never know it was a church.

     Farmland surrounds us and we can see the farmers out in the fields working the land. Of course potatoes are a major crop but there are other items grown too. Within the last decade, the local government has attracted the Amish and Buddhist Monks to move to the area and farm. More about them in a future post.

Due to the wet spring the potato crops were planted late. Here
you see the rows with potatoes just planted.

The view from one of the campgrounds we stayed in. The yellow
fields in the back ground is canola. A sea of yellow swaying in
the breeze is quite beautiful.

     Prince Edward Island is famous for its red soil, sandy beaches, Anne of Green Gables and potatoes. Stay tuned. you may be surprised to see what else they have.