A new exhibit is opening in Lindsay that celebrates beloved Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery and her little-known connection to Kawartha Lakes.
Presented by Kawartha Lakes Economic Development, the “Call Me Maud” exhibit will be on display on the second floor of Kawartha Lakes City Hall at 26 Francis Street in Lindsay from July 23 until November 29 — the day before the 150th anniversary of L.M. Montgomery’s birth. Admission is free to the exhibit, which will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
L.M. Montgomery is best known for her first book Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908, and its five sequels. During her career, she published a total of 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays.
While she spent the first half of her life based in Prince Edward Island, where she was born and the home of her famous orphan character Annie Shirley, L.M. Montgomery moved to Leaskdale in Ontario’s present-day Uxbridge Township in 1911 after marrying Ewan Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister who had taken the position of minister at a local church.
L.M. Montgomery’s connection to Kirkfield comes from her father Hugh John Montgomery, whose second wife Mary Ann McRae was originally from the Kirkfield area and was the niece of Kirkfield’s most famous resident, the Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur Sir William Mackenzie.
While L.M. Montgomery did not attend her father’s wedding, which took place in the Kirkfield Presbyterian Church in 1887, it meant that Mackenzie became her step-grand uncle. Years later, she would regularly visit the MacKenzie family’s estate in Kirkfield.
VIDEO: Heritage Minutes – Lucy Maud Montgomery
“We went for a walk through a most beautiful long lane of lombardies on the MacKenzie estate,” L.M. Montgomery wrote in her journal on July 15, 1925. “It was the part of the day I enjoyed the most. How I miss out of my life now the long intimate walks through woods and secluded fields.”
This information about L.M. Montgomery’s Kirkfield connection comes from Dr. Christy Woster’s 2005 essay L.M. Montgomery and the Railway King of Canada, written for the Shining Scroll newsletter for the L.M. Montgomery Literary Society, which also serves as the inspiration for the “Call Me Maud” exhibit.
In addition to the exhibit, Kawartha Lakes Economic Development is also presenting a virtual talk and in-person tea event at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 18th with support from the Kirkfield and District Historical Society and Museum.
“Call Me Maud – a Kirkfield Connection to Lucy Maud Montgomery” will feature virtual keynote speaker Dr. Emily Woster, a former visiting scholar at the University of Prince Edward Island’s L.M. Montgomery Institute who now serves as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her research mainly focuses on the books and life of L.M. Montgomery.
The event, which will also include refreshments served from L.M. Montgomery’s personal recipe book, takes place at the Kirkfield and District Historical Society Museum at 992 Portage Road in Kirkfield. Tickets must be purchased in advance and will be available until August 11 for $25 per person. To purchase tickets, contact Denise at events@theoldekirk.ca or 705-438-5454.
For more information about the “Call Me Maud” exhibit, visit www.kawarthalakes.ca/callmemaud.
