July 14, 2026
We crossed onto Prince Edward Island via the EIGHT-MILE Confederation Bridge! Quite a bridge!! It is the world’s longest bridge over ice-covered water.
On our way to the campground we saw a red fox. It had quite a bit of black/charcoal on him so at first I was trying to figure out if it really was a fox. It was still considered a red fox, but is a “cross fox”. It is supposedly a “color phase” of the red fox. It definitely had the white tipped full tail. I was enthralled and so “in the moment” looking at him as he crossed the road that I did not get a picture.
We stayed at Holiday Haven Campground in Cornwall, PE for a full week. It was nicely designed for families (and couples).
We have come to the land of red soil. The main soil type on the island—known as the Charlottetown soil—is a mix of sand, silt, and clay that is well-drained and ideal for farming, such as growing PEI potatoes.
The sites were quite generous, but the mosquitoes were horrible in the morning and evenings! (It was mid-July)
Day trip to Wellington, PE – We drove to Wellington to see the Glass Bottle Houses! The drive…
Driving by this next church and cemetery, we had to pull over to check it out more. The Notre Dame du Mont Carmel is listed in the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
The stones used to build the mausoleum and the three arches were gathered locally by parishioners from their fields and along the seashore.
ARRIVED- The Glass Bottle Houses!
There were three buildings: a chapel, a 6-gabled house, and a tavern. AND beautiful gardens!
Edouard Arsenault had a desire to bring beautiful colors and natural scents to his property even before building his bottle houses. He planted most of the trees found on the property and arranged the stone wall to create an environment well-suited to the buildings he later constructed. He gathered the stones himself from the seashore as he needed them. Edouard really enjoyed gardening and took much pleasure in walking around his gardens and sharing them with visitors!
Edouard Arsenault was inspired by a glass bottle house on Vancouver, BC. He was 66 years old and built all three of his glass-bottle houses within four years!
The six-gabled house was the first building Arsenault built. He used 12,000 bottles cemented together. The house is 20ft x 14 ft.
It’s cool how the sunlight on the bottles can add interest to the walls.
Air vents included.
The second building was the tavern using 8,000 bottles.
Of course a tavern must have a bartender and alcohol to be official. 🙂
Third was the chapel using 10,000 bottles including the pews and the altar. The cross was created within the wall via the use of brown/amber bottles.
Chapel with an entry in the back and one upfront on the side.
The following picture is one of the two postcards of the tourist attraction on Vancouver Island in British Columbia that Edouard’s daughter Rejeanne brought to her dad. This was his source of inspiration for his project.
It was interesting to see the variety of the bottles used. There were really many different sizes, and shapes even among ones that first appear to be the same.
Eduoard used railway ties as foundations, but they did not withstand brutal PEI winters. The bad winter frosts were winning. The buildings suffered considerable damage within ten years. To preserve Arsenault’s dream, foundations four feet deep were poured, and then, from 1992 to 1998, local masons and laborers, under the skillful direction of Stephen Poirier, meticulously reconstructed the three buildings. They adhered as closely as possible to the original designs. Only the roof and the central cylinder of the small tavern remained intact.
Of course you must have a bottle tree or two if you have bottle houses!
The gardens were beautiful. You needed to look closely to see unexpected things within the separate landscaped areas. Even the larger things that were off the main path were missed by many – like Mr. Fox, …and don’t move on too soon…Mr. Owl. 🙂
Little fairies were lurking in the greens and amongst the flowers! I didn’t see anyone notice these. I love finding hidden treasures like this.
Gnomes in a small flowerbed. I’m not a big gnome fan, but I was appreciating the handblown glass garden art, another bottle tree, and a unique bench.
The lighthouse near the back of the property is a replica of the Cape Egmont Lighthouse. Edouard served as the final keeper at that lighthouse before it became automated. He built the replica for his property. In addition to being a light keeper, Edouard was a retired fisherman and carpenter.
We met James Gilbert with who we had a delightful conversation. He shared places to not miss as we continue to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
What a beautiful visit we had here. It was much more than we expected. It was definitely worth the modest $9 CAD seniors/$10 adults! We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves here. It just made us smile the whole time!
Having seen the Cape Egmont Lighthouse replica, we had to go to the full-sized one nearby.
We went on to SUMMERSIDE, PE. We really enjoyed this charming area. We had haddock fish & chips out on the deck at the DeckHouse.
Spinnaker’s Landing
Cedar Creek Creations shop here was my favorite. I loved the layered wood art pieces. Great gifts for the fishermen, or if someone loves a particular animal. I liked the simplicity of the plant one. Would make an awesome wall decoration.
We walked the boardwalk.
“The City By The Sea” swings. We had to test them out!
We saw the Indian Head Lighthouse off shore.
This large painting on the side of this building is called, “Irony of History: England, First Nation to Salute the Acadian Flag”
At the time, a vessel from the British fleet was close by, and, as the flag was hoisted, it dipped its colors, believing it was saluting the French flag. It marked the first time the Acadian flag was saluted by another nation. How ironic that the nation was England, the country that had deported the Acadian people from the Maritimes over a century earlier.
“Irony of History: First Nation to Salute the Acadian Flag” was painted by New Brunswick artist Claude Picard as part of a series of six painting depicting the Acadian national symbols. These original paintings can be seen at the Acadian Museum of PEI in Miscouche.
The start of our weakness…
Holman’s ice cream is evidently one of only two Canadian ice creams that are REAL ice cream. (The other one is COWS.) There are no milk “ingredients”, just real cream! It is ONLY made and sold right here in Summerside! So we HAD to check it out! (Probably a good thing it is ONLY available here since it was so good!).
Potatoes are grown all over PEI. The “new” potatoes are just being harvested. I bought a small bag of the NEW PEI potatoes. SO good!
Views of the beautiful drive back to Cornwall.
July 16 we explored CHARLOTTETOWN.
We parked in a free parking lot, and used our scooters to get around.
We enjoyed a cold drink and lunch at Lobster on the Wharf.
We decided to try with the recommended Mariner’s Pot Pie. The description: a velouté cream of fresh scallops, lobster, and shrimp with fresh vegetable, topped with a golden puff pastry + 2 sides.
We shared it, and it was delicious along with the two sides!
We went into the fish market side of Lobster on the Wharf. We are not really equipped to get a fresh lobster and cook it later in Sadie, but we learned about lobsters with black on them. They actually have more meat inside filling out the shell than all red ones have. Many people think they are “old”, got burnt or overcooked. Instead, they simply did not molt their shell the previous July and therefore just kept growing filling that shell with meat.
Man–look at the size of this one’s claws! The claws have the meat I think is best. Nice, and tender.
We rode the boardwalk here on our scooters. It was a bit more challenging as it ended at times and we had to figure out where to get back on one.
This area had colorful Adirondack chairs bordering the water all the way around. They were set up in groups of 2 or 3 with beautiful flower pot giving pleasant separation between each set.
We reached Pioneer Park.
When we got back to the main boardwalk area we stopped in at COW’s Creamery –the other great Canadian ice cream. I chose “MooCrunch” – chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups and moo(se) crunch and “Nanaimoo Bar” – I thought of Naomi Murphy and the Nanaimo bars she makes. The “Nanaimoo Bar” was decent, but I really liked the “MooCrunch”.
Barry chose Canadian Maple in a freshly made waffle cone. It was pretty awesome.
Cow’s creamery began in 1983 with an old-fashioned family recipe that originated in Cavendish, PE. It has become a symbol of PEI, and is STILL homemade with the highest quality ingredients including 16% butterfat. It is churned slowly to keep it creamy. The fresh cream comes only from the milk of PEI cows!
Tomorrow we will explore Cavendish!