2024 is L.M. Montgomery’s 150th birthday! The L.M. Montgomery Institute (LMMI) at the University of Prince Edward Island is celebrating with 150 tributes – celebratory statements or greetings – that reflect upon personal connections to Montgomery or on an aspect of her life, work, or legacy.
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This week’s tributes from Carolyn Strom Collins, Linda Jackson-Hutton, Jack Hutton, and Ariel Little feature Montgomery’s Ontario novel, The Blue Castle, inspired by her 1922 summer holiday in Bala, Muskoka.
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Carolyn Strom Collins on annotating The Blue Castle
Re-reading Anne of Green Gables with my daughter years ago, I was pleased to find its appeal to adult readers as well as younger ones. That led to a career writing companion books to well-known “children’s” books, concentrating mostly on L.M. Montgomery’s work. The latest project was photographing, transcribing, and annotating her manuscript of The Blue Castle. The manuscript is full of strikeouts and added notes – it was more of a challenge than I expected! I was surprised to discover name changes for most of the main characters; for instance, “Valancy” was originally named “Miranda,” and “Roaring Abel” was “Roaring Sandy.” Montgomery’s poetic descriptions of the beauties of “Lake Mistawis” in all seasons are especially inspiring – from discovering nature’s snow sculptures deep in the woods to delicate springtime “wood flowers” to the delights of finding wild strawberries. The Blue Castle – one of Montgomery’s many special gifts to generations of readers.
Carolyn Strom Collins is an author, editor, and independent scholar.
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Linda Jackson-Hutton on co-founding and outfitting Bala Museum
If Maud had not been told to take her meals at a certain Mrs. Pike’s, my whole life would have been entirely different. With Mary Rubio’s words from the 1922 unpublished Muskoka journals that birthed The Blue Castle ringing in our ears, Jack and I worked to save Pike’s Tourist Home from demolition, becoming the first museum in Ontario to honour Maud.
Never once did I waver: antique windows, wood siding and doors were found and installed, authentic wallpaper and paint colours applied. On the 70th anniversary of Maud’s arrival in Bala our museum opened.
The past 34 years have given me pure joy as I encouraged 150,000 children and adult imaginations to soar in our interactive kitchen, smelling Redfern’s Liniment and dealing with a drowned mouse in the custard, getting drunk at a tea party, whacking Gilbert with a slate. Bala’s Museum is treasured for being steeped in the Blue Castle as well as Anne!
Linda Jackson-Hutton is co-owner and curator of Bala’s Museum with “Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery.” Linda read The Blue Castle (from the Bala Library) in 1979, never realizing that she lived on the shore of Lake Mistawis.
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Jack Hutton on welcoming visitors to Bala’s Museum
No one else has captured the mystic beauty of Muskoka’s lakes, rivers, islands with the poetic touch that Lucy Maud Montgomery brought to The Blue Castle, a love story inspired by her 1922 summer holiday in Bala.
The Blue Castle is the only one of Maud’s twenty-two books not set in her beloved Prince Edward Island. Linda and I celebrate that every day at Bala’s Museum with “Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery,” which we co-founded in 1992 after a PEI honeymoon.
No travel writer has ever topped The Blue Castle’s description of cold winter nights. “Evenings that were like cups of glamour – the purest vintage of winter wine.”
We have had 150,000 visitors to our museum, and a high percentage of them say The Blue Castle is their favourite book. If not, it is right behind Anne of Green Gables.
So happy 150th anniversary, Maud. And thank you for writing our favourite book!
Jack Hutton co-founded Bala's Museum with “Memories of Lucy Maud Montgomery” with his wife, Linda, in 1992. A long-time reporter and columnist, he has written extensively about Montgomery and also includes ragtime piano in his tours.
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Ariel Little on discovering a kindred spirit in Valancy
An avid L.M. Montgomery fan since my teens, I did not discover Valancy and her blue castle until I was in my mid-twenties and a professor shared with me that she loved The Blue Castle best of all Montgomery’s works (even more than Anne of Green Gables!). Intrigued by learning of a new Montgomery novel, I decided to read this mysterious book one winter break. Journeying to the wondrous shores of Lake Mistawis was a soul-restoring tonic that made life fresh in the depths of winter. A fellow chatelaine of a castle-in-the-air, I immediately found a kindred spirit in Valancy, empathizing keenly with her sorrows and finding great joy in her triumphant embracing of life.
Thank you, Maud, for this enchanting novel that lends one the courage and hope to overcome nameless fear and to boldly “go … in for realities.”
Ariel Little is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia; her dissertation research on discourses of health and girlhood addresses the works of L.M. Montgomery.
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Next week’s tributes celebrate the kinship between Montgomery and Prince Edward Island.