North Cape, PEI

During the organization part of this trip we decided to spend a week at the other end of PEI also known as the western end. The first town we explored was O’Leary which is home of the Canadian Potato Museum. Of course it is where else would it be we are in PEI.

Potato Museum

Beautiful wall murals adorn the side of the building depicting potato farming.

 

Rarely today you pay $2 for a 10 lbs. bag of potatoes. Here in PEI new potatoes cost $5 for 5lbs.

As we walked around this little town we found numerous buildings that had somewhat of a historical meaning for this place.

Old Schoolhouse

This little one room schoolhouse was built around 1900 and continued in use until 1972. It housed students from grade one to ten.

I remember my first desk was just like this

I remember spending time in the corner

In 1928 the O’Leary telephone office was built connecting many customers on a hand crank party line. It operated until 1968 when the dial system came into effect.

Telephone Office

This church was constructed in 1879 and served three different faiths Christian, Methodist, and Roman Catholic. The last service was held in 1990.

As we moved up the coast I wanted to investigate the West Point Lighthouse Inn. The actual lighthouse was built in 1875 with a total height of 67 feet. It is currently the tallest lighthouse on the island. In 1984 the lighthouse became a museum and country inn.

West Point Lighthouse Inn

Along the coast there is always seeable evidence of erosion.

This rock caught my eye

The furthest west you can drive is North Cape. Here we found a nice restaurant where we had a nice bowl of seafood chowder. Susan also had the fish and chips. Both were very good.

North Cape Restaurant/Museum/Gift Shop/Information Place

As we looked over the cliffs we saw horses and men at work. They were harvesting Irish moss from the sea. It’s used in the making of soaps and body lotions. Didn’t smell very good to me.

Patiently waiting

The horses waded into the water dragging out the Irish moss in the basket. It would then be loaded up on a truck and dried for several days.

Doing the same thing by hand

North Cape Lighthouse

Before we left I thought I would leave a sign that we were here.