So, you've finally decided to make the pilgrimage. You want to stand where Anne Shirley stood, see the red dirt of Avonlea, and maybe look for a ghost in the Haunted Woods. But here is the thing: if you go to Prince Edward Island (PEI) expecting to walk through the exact rooms from the 1985 Megan Follows movie or the Netflix Anne with an E series, you’re going to be a little bit confused.
The "set" is a tricky concept here.
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Most people think of the Anne of Green Gables set as a single place you can visit. In reality, it’s a weird, beautiful mix of a real 19th-century farm that inspired a book, a bunch of heritage villages in Ontario where they actually filmed, and some heavy-duty CGI. Honestly, it’s kinda like finding out Santa Claus has three different houses and two of them are in the suburbs of Toronto.
The Green Gables Heritage Place vs. The Movie Sets
Let's clear up the biggest misconception right away. The house with the green shutters in Cavendish, PEI—the one everyone takes pictures of—is the inspiration, not the filming location for the famous movies.
This house belonged to David and Margaret Macneill. They were cousins of the author, L.M. Montgomery. She never actually lived there, but she grew up just down the road with her grandparents. She spent her afternoons roaming their woods and fields. To her, this wasn't just a farm; it was the blueprint for a masterpiece.
When you walk through the house today, it's laid out exactly like the book describes. You’ll see the puffed-sleeve dress hanging in Anne’s room. You’ll see the magnetic "raspberry cordial" on the table. But Kevin Sullivan, the producer of the 1985 miniseries, didn't film inside this house.
Where was the 1985 movie actually filmed?
Most of the "Avonlea" you see on screen is actually Ontario. It’s a bit of a shocker, I know.
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Because PEI had modernized so much by the mid-80s, the production team had to hunt for 19th-century vibes elsewhere. They found them in "pioneer villages" around Toronto. If you want to see the "real" set, you have to head to these spots:
- Butternut Farm (Scarborough, ON): This is the exterior of Green Gables. That iconic white house with the porch where Matthew and Marilla sat? That’s in a Toronto suburb.
- Westfield Heritage Village (Rockton, ON): Remember the Bright River Station where Matthew first finds Anne? That’s the Jerseyville Railway Station at Westfield. They also used this village for the Hammond sawmill and Lawson’s General Store.
- Pickering Museum Village (Greenwood, ON): This is where Anne famously walked the ridgepole of the roof on a dare.
The red dirt is real, though. They did film exterior transitions and carriage rides on the actual Island to get those "glistening seas" and crimson roads, but the buildings are almost all Ontario heritage sites.
The Digital "Set" of the New Era
If you’re a fan of the Netflix series Anne with an E, the situation gets even more complicated. By the time that show started filming around 2017, some of the original 1985 locations had changed or were unavailable.
The production team built a massive, detailed interior set for the Green Gables farmhouse on a soundstage in Etobicoke. They spent months agonizing over the wallpaper and the way the light hit the floorboards. For the exterior, they used a farm in Pickering, Ontario.
But here’s the cool part: technology changed the game. For the prequel film Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, Kevin Sullivan actually had to use CGI to recreate buildings that no longer existed. They took old still photos of the 1985 sets and digitally "built" them back into the landscape.
Walking the Real Trails in Cavendish
Even if the cameras weren't always rolling in PEI, the Anne of Green Gables set of your imagination is very much alive in Cavendish. This is the "set" of the mind.
Parks Canada manages the Green Gables Heritage Place, and they’ve done a stellar job of making it feel like you’ve stepped into the 1890s. The site includes the Haunted Wood Trail and Lover’s Lane. These aren't just names from a book; they are the actual paths L.M. Montgomery walked while she was brainstorming the plot.
I've been there, and honestly, the spruce grove is actually kinda gloomy, just like Anne said. If you go late in the day when the shadows get long, you can totally see why a kid with a big imagination would think there were ghosts in those trees.
Why the location matters for E-E-A-T
When we talk about the "accuracy" of these sets, we have to look at the work of historians like those at the L.M. Montgomery Institute. They’ve pointed out that while the movies took liberties, the physical landscape of Cavendish is the only place that captures the "spirit" of the work. You can't fake the North Shore cliffs or the specific way the light reflects off the "Lake of Shining Waters" (which is actually a pond in Park Corner called Campbell’s Pond).
What You Need to Know Before You Go
If you’re planning a trip to see the Anne of Green Gables set, don't just wing it. The Island is small, but it's busy.
- Timing is everything: The Green Gables house in Cavendish is typically open from May to October. If you show up in December, the house is closed, though you can still walk the trails.
- The "Other" Green Gables: Don't confuse the Heritage Place with the Anne of Green Gables Museum in Park Corner. The Museum is in the Campbell house (Montgomery’s aunt and uncle). This is where she actually got married. It has the "Lake of Shining Waters" on the property. Both are worth seeing, but they are about 20 minutes apart.
- The Dress-Up Factor: Yes, you can wear braids and a hat. No, you won't be the only one.
The real magic of the Anne set isn't that it’s a perfect recreation. It’s that it’s a bridge. It bridges the gap between a lonely woman writing in a farmhouse 120 years ago and a kid watching a screen in 2026.
Moving Forward With Your Visit
If you want to experience the most authentic version of this world, start by visiting the Green Gables Heritage Place in Cavendish for the literary history. Then, if you're a hardcore movie buff, take a weekend trip to Westfield Heritage Village in Ontario to see the actual wood and stone where Megan Follows filmed her scenes.
Keep in mind that the "Avonlea Village" in Cavendish is a commercial area with shops and restaurants—great for a Cows ice cream (get the Wowie Cowie, trust me), but it's a tourist recreation, not a historical site.
To dive deeper, look up the "L.M. Montgomery Literary Tour" which maps out the specific spots that appear in her journals versus her fiction. This gives you the most nuanced view of how a real farm became a global icon.