The Story Girl and The Golden Road focus on the lives of the King children on the King family farm, in the village of Carlisle. Thought most of their time is spent in the family orchard, a beloved haunt resonant with family stories and traditions, we hear often of nearby Markdale, and in The Golden Road the children visit Baywater.

Carlisle

Very little information is given about Carlisle. Sara Ray lives at the foot of the hill behind the spruce bush (ch. 2, TSG) , the Awkward Man’s house lies across the fields (ch.2, TSG), Mr. Campbell’s house is reached by going over a hill and through a wooded brook valley, towards Markdale Harbour. One passes Sara Ray’s house to go to church and to the schoolhouse. Peg Bowen’s house beyond the swamp and brook field (ch. 24, TSG), on the dividing line between Baywater and Carlisle (ch. 7, TGR).

Carlisle appears to be a woodsy place, with the typical rolling hills and farm meadows of Montgomery’s Island. “Carlisle” sounds like a romanticized version of Cavendish, and Montgomery was probably thinking of Cavendish as she wrote The Story Girl: the last book she wrote in her old home. The book resounds with Montgomery’s own sense of imminent departure from the Island.

Of course, no mention is made of a pond or sea near Carlisle - making the world of the King children seem more enclosed, and Carlisle more generic. All the sea stories are related to Markdale, a nearby harbour town. Similarly, the affairs of the Cavendish community are closely intertwined with those of Rustico (on Rustico harbour) to its east, and Stanley Bridge (on New London harbour) to the west.

Markdale is most likely Rustico. The real story of the Yankee Storm (ch. 22, TGR) actually occurred on the red cliffs that span between Cavendish and Rustico (the setting for the Shore Road in Anne of Green Gables, now part of the Green Gables National Park). Bev, Sara Stanley and Uncle Blair see a moonrise over Markdale Harbour (ch. 26, TGR), and from the hills of Cavendish, one can see Rustico Harbour to the east. When the Story Girl goes to Markdale to buy the dreambooks, this implies that Markdale has a general store, something which the farming community of Carlisle doesn’t. I don’t know if Rustico was commercial in LMM’s time, but Montgomery could have attributed a store to Rustico for convenience’s sake.

The King Farm

The old King homestead lies on a hill. There is a big willow by the gate (ch. 1, TSG), a brook field and harvest valleys to the west (ch. 2, TSG), a spruce and fir grove behind the house, a plantation of silver birches and polars dividing Uncle Alec’s house from Uncle Roger’s.

Then we opened the front door and stepped out, rapture swelling in our bosoms. There was a rare breeze from the south blowing to meet us; the shadows of the spruces were long and clear-cut; the exquisite skies of early morning, blue and wind-winnowed, were over us; away to the west, beyond the brook field, was a long valley and a hill purple with firs and laced with still leafless beeches and maples.

Behind the house was a grove of fir and spruce, a dim, cool place where the winds were fond of purring and where there was always a resinous, woodsy odour. On the further side of it was a thick plantation of slender silver birches and whispering poplars; and beyond it was Uncle Roger’s house.

Right before us, girt about with its trim spruce hedge, was the famous King orchard, the history of which was woven into our earliest recollections. We knew all about it, from father’s descriptions, and in fancy we had roamed in it many a time and oft. — The Story Girl, ch. 2

The orchard, fenced in by a spruce hedge, is to the right of the house. In the orchard there are birthday trees planted for all of the King family, a well with an Chinese pagoda roof, and Uncle Stephen’s walk - a double row of apple trees, leading towards the Pulpit Stone. (ch. 3, TSG)

“The Old Home”, photo by L. M. Montgomery c. 1900

The King homestead sounds like the Macneill homestead where L. M. Montgomery grew up. It is a white, orchard-embowered farmhouse, with a spruce grove behind. [1] The King farm adjoins Uncle Roger’s property, much like the Macneill homestead with Uncle John Macneill for a (far less jovial) neighbour.

Of course - as with all of Montgomery’s settings, it is not a direct copy. There are elements of the Park Corner home (”Silver Bush“) with the plantation of silvery birches. The Pulpit Stone has a real existence, and is located at the L. M. Montgomery Heritage Museum (home of Montgomery’s paternal grandfather).

The Pulpit Stone at the L. M. Montgomery Heritage Museum, photo by lmm-anne.net 2004

Places to Visit

Cavendish
Site of L. M. Montgomery’s Cavendish Home - the Macneill homestead where Montgomery grew up, the house no longer stands by the woodsy surroundings are still there
Cavendish Cemetary where a small anchor memorial is dedicated the the Yankee Storm
Cavendish Shore and North Rustico the “original” of Markdale

Park Corner
L. M. Montgomery Heritage Museum where the Pulpit Stone is found
Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush where Montgomery’s Campbell cousins, who inspired the merry King children, lived, and where the “Blue Chest of Rachel Ward” can be seen

Malpeque, Bideford
Montgomery Homestead at Fox Point where Donald Montgomery, original of Donald Fraser in the story “How Betty Sherman Won a Husband”, lived. David Murray, the original of Neil Campbell, lived at Bedeque (Montgomery taught school at Lower Bedeque)
Yeo House/ Green Park Museum - Donald Montgomery crossed Richmond Bay to propose to Nancy Penman (Nancy Sherman), who lived at Penman’s Point near Bideford. The Yeo House/Green Park Museum is located on this property now.