Wednesday, August 20, 2014

On the Road Day 6 Charlottetown PEI

Day 1 Toronto to Levis QC

Day 2 Levis QC to St. Andrew by the Sea NB

Day 3 St. Andrew NB to Port Elgin NB

Day 4 Little Shemogue NB

Day 5 Port Elgin NB to Charlottetown PEI



We are settled in Charlottetown for six nights.
This Best Western is located in a great area for you to walk to all the sights within the historic area.
It was a bright gasp sunny day!!!!
Sunday and many places are closed so we didn't end up with a big Irish breakfast as John wanted, but instead *sigh* Tim Horton's.

It's time to do some exploring. We had started out with warm and rain gear but it was soon discarded.


Everywhere you go in town buildings are decked out in bunting.
Charlottetown’s 1864 Anniversary Celebrations are marking the 150th anniversary of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference of the Fathers of Confederation and the importance it played in the building of Canada.

Chtown Conference delegates posing on the steps of Government House

On September 1, 1864, the meeting that led to Canadian Confederation convened in Prince Edward Island. PEI, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick had originally set the date to discuss the possibility of Maritime Union. When the Province of Canada (what is present-day Ontario and Quebec) asked to attend the meeting, the topic of Maritime Union became secondary to the grand matter of forming a nation.

Delegates arrived from August 30 through September 1 at the port of Charlottetown. Sir John A. Macdonald, the man who would become Canada’s first Prime Minster in a few short years, was among them. John A features everywhere along with his top hat as you will soon see.


We embarked on a scavenger hunt posted at Downtown Charlottetown site. I will post that separately.



Confederation Centre for the Arts.




Province House





Richmond St. is known as Victoria Row.




The area is full of restaurants, cafes and galleries and the street is lined with old historic stone buildings. The block has been destroyed twice before by fire, in 1866 and again in 1884. 

What stands today are some of the most beautiful buildings in the City. In 1997 CADC, the City of Charlottetown and the local merchants partnered to transform Richmond Street, between Queen and Great George Street, into a pedestrian row. Closed to vehicle traffic in the summer months the street features brick pavers, mature trees, historic lighting, a bandstand, a fountain, an archway entrance and many outdoor restaurant patios.
There is a row of picnic tables stenciled with checker boards.



Potato martini! Lunch at John Brown's, sitting outside.
John George Hamilton Brown Jr. was the original visionary of Victoria Row, but it was never his intention for it to be anything other than the Brown Block.

The British Warehouse was a dry goods store operated by John Brown Senior until it was destroyed in the fire of 1884. That tragedy quickly turned to an opportunity for John Brown Jr. – he wasted no time in buying up the property surrounding the burned out lot. Prominent local architects, Phillips and Chappell were hired to design the Italianate Commercial style buildings. Unlike the Cameron Block next door to the Brown Block, the three sections of Brown Block were not identical in their construction.

The design was also more decorative, being reminiscent of the Venetian arcades of the Renaissance period. The Brown Block remains one of the City’s well-preserved examples of this style. Despite various fires, including three that damaged the Brown Block in 1952, 1957 and 1971, the buildings have survived as a well preserved assembly of Victorian buildings in the City.


\HUGE seafood chowder!


John felt the need for meat!
Our server, Patrick was delightful and planning a trip to Toronto in September. We exchanged email addresses and he has sent me a note already.


More on Anne of Green Gables when we go there.


John A Macdonald!! The top hat features everywhere around town as well.


St. Dunstan's Basilica - many more photos in another post!


The Claddagh was a spot we ate at when we initially visited in 1989 or 90.






We stopped into Gahan's for a beer and was lucky to get a table outside. Look at that blue sky! Hard to believe that shortly after we watched a big cloud roll in and John's weather app informed us that it would rain in five minutes and it did! We all scurried into side.




1 comment:

  1. It is such a lovely town, one of the most appealing places in the country to me. You capture it beautifully.

    ReplyDelete

This blog does not allow anonymous comments.