Description of Historic Place

The Bideford Parsonage Museum is a restored one-and-one-half storey Gothic Revival house located in the rural community of Bideford, PEI, on the North Cape Coastal Drive. It has well maintained lawns and several trees on the property. The designation includes the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

This former parsonage is valued for its well preserved Gothic Revival architectural style and for its historic association with the Island's famous author, Lucy Maud Montgomery. The house was constructed in 1878 by Thomas H. Pope, an accountant and telegraph operator. He later sold it to the Methodist Church in 1884 for use as a parsonage. After Church Union in 1925, it became the United Church Manse until it was sold in 1972.

Lucy Maud Montgomery boarded with the family of Rev. Estey at the house in 1894-95 while she was teaching in the nearby Bideford schoolhouse. In her 1917 book, The Alpine Path, she related the amusing story of the liniment cake incident which happened in this house.

In 2000, the home received a Millennium grant from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and was restored to its Victorian splendour. Today, it is operated as a local museum and features many artifacts and refurbished rooms, such as L.M. Montgomery's former bedroom which still overlooks the rural countryside.

Visit their website by clicking here.

Source: Heritage Places files, PEI Department of Education, Early Learning & Culture, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4320-20/B1

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the house is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the one-and-one-half storey elevation
- the "L" shape formation of the house
- the steeply pitched roof with one wall dormer on the front elevation
- the brick chimneys
- the Gothic Revival style roof finials and pendant decorations on the eaves and window hood mouldings
- the bay window of the front elevation
- the Gothic Revival style bargeboards
- the wrap-around verandah on the front and side elevations