“A green solitude of wavering light and shadow”

In The Story Girl, L.M. Montgomery writes of the cemetery “where our kindred of four generations slept in a green solitude of wavering light and shadow” (Chapter 5). Here’s the cemetery where Montgomery herself and many of her relatives are buried:

These photos are from a summer trip a couple of years ago, when there was plenty of green in the cemetery. I spent last weekend in Charlottetown, PEI, and I stopped in Cavendish on the way there to take more photos. I was the only visitor at that moment. Plenty of solitude; not as much green, yet.

Montgomery died eighty-two years ago today, on April 24, 1942, and she was buried here five days later. Liz Rosenberg writes in House of Dreams: The Life of L.M. Montgomery that “The local outpouring of grief was immense. The little white church filled to overflowing. Mourners spilled out of the church and onto the grounds. The Cavendish school closed for the afternoon; grieving schoolchildren came running over. One girl remembered telling her mother, ‘I have read all her books and I know her.’”

More photos from last weekend: New London, L.M. Montgomery’s birthplace museum, and the National Park in Cavendish.

If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll consider recommending it to a friend. I’m always interested to read your comments and messages. Thanks for reading!

Here are the links to the last two posts, in case you missed them:

Let’s Read Kilmeny of the Orchard in May (#ReadingKilmeny)

Celebrating Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and L.M. Montgomery’s 150th Birthday