Prince Edward Island - Charlottetown

 

This map shows PEI.  We drove from Wood Island to Charlottetown, the provincial capital.

 

We were really amazed at PEI.  So much of the island is farmland.  And they grow potatoes and corn.  We sampled the potatoes and they were delicious.

There were two things we wanted to do while on PEI – one was to tour Charlottetown (the provincial capital) and the other was to see Cavendish (where the story about Anne of Green Gables originated).  So we found a very nice CG about halfway between the two towns (about 15 miles in either direction from the CG).

 

We drove into Charlottetown and on the way to the capital saw this church. 

St. Dunstan's Basilica is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Charlottetown in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.The heritage value of St. Dunstan's Cathedral Basilica lies in its importance to the Roman Catholic community of Prince Edward Island; its magnificent French Gothic architecture; and its role as a landmark in Charlottetown. 

The first St. Dunstan's was a small wooden chapel built in 1816. The church received its name from Archbishop Plessis of Quebec who, when he visited the capital in 1812, was received warmly by local Protestant British officials. He named the church that would later be built St. Dunstan's after the 10th Century English saint, as a goodwill gesture to those who had received him so well. 

Unfortunately, in 1913, a fire that had started in the sanctuary devastated the new church. Before the fire was extinguished, plans were made to rebuild the cathedral. Donations from Roman Catholics throughout the Island, as well as non-Catholic members of the community helped to rebuild the new church, which was completed in 1919. This church would be built with an extensive array of fire resistant measures so that the church would never succumb to fire again. 

 

 

 

We found the provincial capital building a couple of blocks away.



We took a tour of the building.  This picture shows the step before entering the building.  When taxes were collected here, the townspeople would line up to pay.  This step is worn down due everyone stepping here before entering the building.

Afterwards, we went outside only to find some actors portraying the time when PEI deliberated about joining the other Canadian provinces at that time.  It was very interesting.

We walked around main street and found a 'Chinese' restaurant for lunch.
One of the candy stores displayed this sign (but we didn't have any!).

Another church in town - bells rang on the hour.

Apparently Charlottetown is famous for its 'COWS' ice cream so we found the creamery to take a tour only to find out that they were done for the day!

We each had some ice cream but were disappointed.  And it was expensive!

 

 

 

 

Saw this in a store window somewhere??

On Saturday night we went to the Confederation of the Arts building and saw a play called Kitchen Witches.  The auditorium was very small and it was made as if you were the audience watching a live performance.  They were very good.

Next stop... Cavendish.