Leaksdale Manse

In July 1911, L.M. Montgomery married Rev. Ewen Macdonald.  Shortly thereafter, the couple moved to Leaksdale, Ontario where Macdonald took charge of St. Paul's Presbyterian Chruch. Montgomery wrote 11 of her 22 books while living at what has come to be called the Leaksdale Manse.

Over the years, there have been many changes and restorations to the manse.  The original building dates to 1886.  It became an Ontario Historical Site in 1965.  In 1974, white stucco was applied to the entire building; covering the beautiful limestone bricks.  This is the state the building was in when I was able to visit it in 1992.

In 2001, Uxbridge Township removed the stucco and restored the original brick.  Since then, even more efforts to restore the building have taken place and in 2011, the Township began negotiations to sell the manse to the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario.  This will likely be a long process but the LMM  Society would be wonderful custodians of the building.

I hope to be able to visit the manse again this year before my trip to PEI.

Further Reading:

February 12, 2007 article about the manse in the Toronto Star

January 28, 2011 article about the manse in Durham Region