Lucy Maud Montgomery's Prince Edward Island, Part 2: The Author's Birthplace

“And here, around a certain corner, is a certain small, yellowish-brown house, close to the road, that I always look at with a kind of fascination, for it is the house where my father and mother lived after their marriage, and where I was born and spent the first year of my life. The years have passed on and each succeeding one has left the little brown house something shabbier than before, but its enchantment has never faded in my eyes. I always look for it with the same eager interest when I turn the corner.” — The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900, Saturday,  December 31, 1898.

This journal entry is quoted on a sign outside of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birthplace. She was 24 at the time of writing this, and I think she would be happy to know that even though the building has been altered superficially—it is brown no longer, but white with dark green trim—the house still holds a certain enchantment. Here in this tiny house close to the road, a great writer was born some 150 years ago. 

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on 30 November 1874 to Hugh John Montgomery and Clara Woolner Macneill in the village of Clifton, now called New London, Prince Edward Island. The home overlooks picturesque New London Harbour, complete with the quintessential sand dunes any viewer of the many Anne of Green Gables adaptations would imagine if asked to picture the landscape of the Island.

Maud was not yet two when her mother, Clara, died of tuberculosis at the Macneill homestead in Cavendish. Afterwards, Maud continued to live with her maternal grandparents, Alexander and Lucy Macneill. She lived there at the Macneill Homestead in Cavendish until her marriage to Rev. Ewan Macdonald on 5 July 1911.

Now seems like a good time to share Maud’s wedding dress, which can be viewed at Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Birthplace. This replica is on display in a glass case right next to the cash desk, which made it very difficult to photograph without capturing annoying reflections. I admit, I found the mannequin quite disturbing. Most mannequins are a bit unsettling by nature, but the fact that this one looks like it has a stocking pulled over its face, ready to rob a bank, added another dimension of creepiness. 

Speaking of the cash desk, I didn’t pay much attention to the gift-y things in portion of the house designated as a shop. I was much too excited to focus on shopping. But I did happen to notice they did have a very good selection of books. When you walk in the front door the facing wall is covered in books with the covers facing out, which I found particularly tempting. I bought two published by Kindred Spirits of PEI, a publisher run by George Campbell, a relative of Maud. The two books were, Anne of Green Gables (1908), because I needed a backup—this was not the last copy I bought on this trip—and The Story Girl (1911). (I have linked to the same editions I bought, which you can find at the Anne of Green Gables Store in person, or online. These are not affiliate links.)

In that same room is where I spotted this photo of Maud, wearing a truly fabulous hat, and her husband Rev. Ewan Macdonald on their honeymoon.

On the same wall as the above photo of Maud, I found this flower made of human hair, which was apparently a popular craft around 1900. I could admire for its craftsmanship, maybe even its artistry, if only I didn’t have an abhorrence of hair that is not attached to a body. I considered not including it here, because it is another creepy thing, but, for better or worse, I was struck by its oddity and thought it might be of interest to others. Let’s move so I can shake off the heebie-jeebies. 

When you come in the front door of the house the cash desk is to your left (go there first and pay your entry fee), to your right is a flight of stairs, and straight ahead leads to the rest of the main floor. Let’s head to the kitchen and work our way counterclockwise through the rooms. 

An imposing Franklin stove presides in this room. I cannot imagine relying on this not only to cook, bake, heat the iron, but also to keep the house warm. It must have been used as heating, because what was noticeably lacking from this building was any sign of a fireplace. The one chimney you can see on the outside of the house, must be for the stove. The kitchen also contains a number of chairs, a table that has been pushed against one wall, and a corner cabinet filled with dishes. I can’t help but wonder how this room was set up when Maud’s parents lived here. 

What I find most fascinating about historic homes that have been set up as they might have been however many years ago, are all the little domestic items. The area next to the stove has such an interesting array of items that I felt compelled to capture it. One of the items appears to be a preserved bird wing. For beauty, or for purpose? Either answer would only end up in more questions. 

In the main room downstairs there is a display which takes up the centre of the room, filled with Maud’s scrapbooks. There were other objects, tables, chairs, some china I meant to ask about, but I didn’t. I was too captivated by the scrapbooks to focus on anything else. I had not heard about Maud’s scrapbooks before our visit to the Island. To be honest, I knew very little about Maud, outside of the contents of her novels and short stories. As you can see from the collection here, she certainly loved scrapbooking, including invites and programs from outings. She also collected clippings of her published stories, which can be seen in the long display case in the centre of this room. 

I have just recently started reading the first of seven volumes in her collected journals, The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1889-1900. She wrote her journal with the intention of it being published one day. That is striking enough, I think, but she even edited it. There are places where she had removed leaves and pasted in new ones. Another notable difference between Maud’s journal and many other writer’s personal record is that she added visual elements as well, including newspaper clippings, postcards, studio shots, and her own photography. I’m just up to the entries from 1890, but the photographs of Maud’s friends, family, and the landscape have added so much to the reading experience. Also, I never would have expected that Maud’s voice to be so mature from such an early age. From the start of the journal in 1889, when Maud is almost fifteen, the writing and the scenarios could have been pulled straight from the pages of The Story Girl or Anne of Green Gables. 

I snapped this photo of Imagining Anne: Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Island Scrapbooks at The Site of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Cavendish Home. I’ll talk more about that location in another post, but I will say here that they did have a great selection of books at that location. I wish I had bought a copy of this book while I was on the spot, but you can find it online. If you are interested in learning more about Maud’s scrapbooks, I think this book would be a great resource.

At the back of the house and to the far left, in relation to the front door, there is a small sitting room. Here I picked up a couple of brochures about the Island and Maud-related locations, including one specific to her birthplace. I can see this room being used as a study or quiet space back when the building was a family home, so it was fitting to find a cabinet with a number of foreign editions of Maud’s books on display.

Returning back to the front door, we go up the stairs that appear on the right on your way in. At the top of the stairs on the right is a door marked “The Child’s Room”.

I’m currently reading The Golden Road (1944), and in it Cecily is making a quilt that people have paid to have their name stitched on in either a 5¢ or 10¢ piece. In the book, the governor’s wife pays to have her name and her husband’s stitched on a 10¢ piece, which speaks to their financial and social position. More surprising is that Peg Bowen, a reclusive woman who lives is a decrepit old place and appears to only have one outfit, also says she will take a 10¢ piece. She even appears affronted when Cecily asks her which price of piece Peg would like. But then, Peg says she will pay later, because she doesn’t have the cash on hand. That was a couple of chapters ago, and so far no mention that she paid Cecily for the privilege. I don’t think Peg would unintentionally go without paying. She did give the children refuge in a snowstorm, after all. But after a night spent in the woman’s house they are no less convinced she is a witch, and there is this constant back and forth between whether Peg is just a misunderstood woman who lives by herself or something more sinister. Back to Maud's birthplace...

Back to Maud’s birthplace… This is the first of a number of rugs I took photos of on this trip. There are a couple of other beauties to come in the guest room, but overall, I was just really impressed with the attention to detail in dressing these rooms. I am not a historian, so I cannot comment on historical accuracy of all of the items, but they are all beautiful to look at, and the child’s room was my favourite room in the house. There is something so welcoming about an adorably decorated children’s room.

A room marked “The Main Bedroom” is the next door down the hall on the right. This is the room Maud was born in and would have been her parent’s bedroom. This is another room with a lot of items to admire. The hooked rugs, and the braided rug caught my eye, as did the garments of clothing. But just look at the bedspread! A sign outside the door reads, “This bedspread is on loan from the family of the late Edith Woodside, a valuable former board member.” I’m going to assume Edith Woodside made this bedspread, and very talented she was too. I wish I could have got a better photo of it, but there are low gates that run across the doorways of each of the upstairs rooms, preventing visitors from going inside. When I go back this year, I hope to at least ascertain whether the bedspread is crocheted or knitted.

Well, I had to take a photo of this man, Adonijah (Nige) Marks (1858-1945), posed with a litter of fox cubs that he raised. He made the bed in this room. Although, I think it is fair to assume that this is not the bed in which Maud was born in 1874. According to Nige’s great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth (Ingraham) Tumblin, “He was known for his long beard, his furniture making, his apple orchards and his telling fortunes through reading tea leaves.” He sounds like such a character, and just the sort of person I would like to know more about. Also, why are we not naming children Adonijah anymore?

Here are a couple more photos of the main bedroom that I am not going to comment on, otherwise, we are never going to get out of here.

We have made it to the last room upstairs, which is situated at the end of the short hall, “The Guest Room”. I have no idea what the deal is with the wedding dress, I will add that to my list of questions to pester the staff with on my next visit. But turn your attention to the quilt to the left of the mannequin bride. There is a small tag attached that says this is a log cabin afghan “[s]tarted by a little girl 8 years old, Sue M. Moncey (Muncey?), later Mrs. J.B. Leigh Lowther, Carleton Lot 28. Born November 1874. Died March 22, 1974.” It’s a beautiful piece, but no doubt it was also included in this room because Sue shared the same birth month and year as Maud. I would imagine this is the kind of handiwork that Maud and other little girls would have learned at the time. 

More of those beautiful rugs I mentioned earlier…

I love the patchwork quilt that sits on blue chest of drawers in the next photo. Patchwork speaks of a time when pieces of old clothes and bits of fabric were repurposed into beautiful and practical objects, instead of being thrown away like we would today. We donate our family’s old clothes to charity, and items that are at the end of their life I usually just turn into rags. It has never occurred to me to try my hand at patchwork, but it might be something to fill up the long winter nights and would take a lot longer than crocheted or knitting blankets, which is my current crafty pastime. 

Now, it’s time to go back down the stairs. Watch your step. The staircase is just about as steep as it appears in this photo. 

From start to finish, we spent 45 minutes at Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Birthplace, that’s including making a couple of purchases in the bookstore/gift shop area and having a lovely chat with the woman who was working there. I believe her name was Deborah. We were the only visitors at the time and Deborah, as we are calling her, was very generous with her time. I remember commenting to my husband that it felt like we had been given a personal tour. Other than leaving us to explore the upstairs on our own, she was close by, providing us with tidbits of information about the building and its objects. Now, I’m thinking the worker’s name could have been Margaret. Heaven help me. Well Deborah/Margaret, if you are reading this, thank you for your time and for offering to stamp not just the books I had bought, but any that I had in the car. She was so kind and she made me feel like she was just as excited to see us as we were to see Maud’s birthplace. All round, we had a very heartwarming experience visiting Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Birthplace.

Additional information:

Address

Lucy Maud Montgomery Birthplace

6461 Route 20, New London

PE C0B 1M0

At Junction of Route 20 and Route 6

Summer (902) 886 2099

Winter (902) 836 5502

Hours

Open Daily 15 June - 15 September 

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

For off season hours visit their website.

Other useful information

Free parking

Air conditioning

$7.00 per adult

$3.00 per child 3-12 years

No washrooms

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This blog post contains affiliate links for Blackwell’s. As a Blackwell’s Affiliate, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase through one of the links on my website. I recommend Blackwell’s because I use them myself. This helps support me in sharing—what I hope is—valuable content. Thank you for your support!

Lucy Maud Montgomery's Prince Edward Island, Part 1: Finding My Way to Anne

Anne of Green Gables was one of my most precious books when I was a child. I read it and reread it, crying at that part. (If you know, you know. And if you don’t, I’m not saying a word.) It was given to me in a goodie bag at a slumber party with a box set that included Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, books two and three in the Anne of Green Gables series. I went on to read the other books in the series too, and was very thankful that my parents agreed to buy them for me. For the most part, I used the libraries near us. With a library at my school and the public library within walking distance, I took advantage of reading for free. But I don’t remember finding any Lucy Maud Montgomery books in the library until I got to high school, where they had a lot of titles I had not seen before. There I found Akin to Anne, a collection of stories about orphans like Anne. Among the Shadows, ghost stories that I read in the school library, for fear that my mother wouldn’t approve. I also found the Emily of New Moon trilogy (Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, Emily’s Quest) on those shelves. I remember loving those books, and when I was in grade 10 the CBC aired a TV adaptation that I loved watching. Although, I was careful not to broadcast that I was watching Emily of New Moon to anyone at school, a family friendly show that had an early evening Sunday night time slot. Everyone else was watching the new shows Dawson’s Creek and Felicity, and maybe even Beverly Hills, 90210 at the time. Not that I wasn’t watching those shows, as well. But I always felt a little out of place in high school and just wanted to fit in, or at least fly under the radar and get through the day without incident.

Part of what made Maud’s books so special to little Caro, is that they were set in Canada. (And yes, I’ve decided to be on a first name basis with this writer, because we have known each other for over 30 years.) Before Maud, I had not come across a novel that was set in Canada. While Prince Edward Island was far enough away from where we lived to feel like a fantasy land, the descriptions of the island sounded a lot like my home. It was a landscape I knew, even if the roads were tinted red there and the landscape sprinkled in fairy dust. I could get lost in my imagination with Anne, and found somehow too. Anne made me feel less alone. She made me realise that I wasn’t the only one who lived an internal life. Who told stories. Who loved to read. And who dreamed. 

I loved to read before Maud’s books came into my life, but she was the first author whose books I actively sought out and would ask my parents to buy any time I came across a title I didn’t have. Happily, they often obliged. Although, they weren’t interested in getting me the Emily books after I let it slip that they had them at my school library. And I somehow still do not have this series in my collection. I must remedy that at some point, because I would like to reread them.

Besides Anne and Emily, the character I really connected with was Valancy from The Blue Castle. This book is geared towards a slightly older audience. It’s not quite a book for adults, but not a children’s book either. I think today it would be marketed for young adults, but that doesn’t seem quite right either. This book is about a young woman who does not fit in with her large family. She is 29 years old and well on her way to becoming the family spinster, and general dogsbody. She is unhappy with her life, until one day when she finds out from her doctor that she has heart condition and could die at any time. Finding out she is going to die is what helps Valancy really live for the first time in her life. She lights the place on fire, moves to the woods, has a famous artist ask to paint her, and falls in love. It’s a life affirming book with a lot of big, complicated emotions, and it is just so good. Set in Muskoka, an area of Ontario that I was familiar with from family camping trips, this was another book that I could find myself in. It was just too romantic for words and I have no idea how many times I reread this in my youth. My copy looks almost as tired as my childhood copy of Anne of Green Gables, so I would say, a lot!

Last September, I visited Prince Edward Island for the first time. I would say it was a childhood dream of mine to visit the Island, but that is not quite true. Prince Edward Island was a place I could escape to in my mind, not somewhere one travelled to by more traditional means. So finally being there in the flesh, this place that with the help of Maud, I had created in my mind, was a lot to process. I planned to write a number of blog posts and post content on Instagram at the time, but when I got there… I don’t know. I just wanted to enjoy it. To be there without distraction. When I came home I posted a few photos, on Instagram, but I just felt so overwhelmed by the experience that I felt like I needed time to process it. I had really been there, treading the same paths as Maud, seeing the same views, breathing the same air, and I just wanted to hold it close, for it to be all mine, a little longer.

It’s almost a year later, and soon I will be on the Island again. We enjoyed our time so much that we are going back. This time we will be meeting my friend, Gina (@babsbelovedbooks) and her husband there, which is what I had dreamed of on our last trip. I wanted so much for all of my fellow fans of Maud to be there and experience this magical place too. I had a wonderful time visiting all of the Maud related haunts, but besides that, the Island is such a calming place. It’s a small place, so everything is fairly accessible, and there is a closeness that you can feel too, like nothing really bad could happen there. It sounds silly, and it might be because I had the holiday rose tinted sunnies on, but there is something undramatically beautiful about driving through that landscape of rolling hills. And when you turn off the paved road onto the country road, it really is red. So maybe it is the Island’s soil infusing the place with a rosy glow. 

In the lead up to my trip I’ll be going through my photos from last September. Each week, I’ll be taking you along to all the places I went, the views I saw, and I’ll be sure to let you know all of the places I got emotional, as well as a few things to do if you are travelling with a kindred spirit who is not yet a Maud fan. Hopefully, I will inspire you to take your own trip to this lovely gem of a place off the East Coast of Canada, Prince Edward Island.

***If you got something out of this post, please consider subscribing to my blog. You can find the email sign up on the right hand side at the top of this page (on desktop version only), or click on the link here. You will receive a confirmation email in your inbox (or possibly your junk folder). Once you click to confirm your email address you will receive an email notification whenever a new blog post goes up. And, of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Feel free to email me if you have any trouble subscribing, or if you just want to chat about books. I would love to hear from you! Whether you subscribe or not, I’m thankful you are here.***

This blog post contains affiliate links for Blackwell’s. As a Blackwell’s Affiliate, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase through one of the links on my website. I recommend Blackwell’s because I use them myself. This helps support me in sharing—what I hope is—valuable content. Thank you for your support!

Ending with the photo that has been on desktop for the past year. It brings me joy every time I sit down to work. It may sound cheesy. I’m going to say it anyway. It’s a reminder to not just dream big. But to dream bigger. And then laugh when someone leaves a discarded takeaway coffee right in the middle of your dream (photo).  

Happy Birthday Millie!

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was born 120 years ago today, on 10 July 1905. You might not recognise her name, but I’m willing to bet the name Carolyn Keene rings a bell. Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym Wirt Benson shared with a number of other writers who have penned the Nancy Drew books over the years. Wirt Benson was the ghostwriter of 23 of the first 30 books in the original Nancy Drew series, the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. The character of Nancy Drew was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Stratemeyer started the company when he found that the demand from publishers for the children’s books he was writing exceeded his output. To keep up with the demand for more books in series he had created, he hired freelance writers. Stratemeyer wrote the outlines, the freelancer would write the manuscript under the pen name for that series, making a flat rate for their efforts, and Stratemeyer would keep the copyright.

Before Stratemeyer died in 1930, he had provided the outlines for the first four Nancy Drew books to Wirt Benson, The Secret of the Old Clock (1930), The Hidden Staircase (1930), The Bungalow Mystery (1930), and The Mystery at Lilac Inn (1930). After his death Harriet Otis Smith, Stratemeyer’s personal secretary, wrote the outline of the fifth book, The Secret at Shadow Ranch (1931), as well as editing that book and the fourth book, The Mystery at Lilac Inn (1930), she is also credited with creating the characters Bess Marvin and George Fayne, cousins and good friends of Nancy Drew. From the sixth book on, the daughters of Stratemeyer, Edna Stratemeyer Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, carried on with the creation of the outlines and editing of the books, until Edna left the Syndicate, and Harriet shouldered the work Edna had done, as well as her own. 

Wirt Benson made $125 per book for the first seven Nancy Drews, but Harriet wanted to cut the rate the ghostwriters were getting paid down to $100 per book. At this point Wirt Benson was an experienced writer, having graduated with a degree in English in 1925 from the University of Iowa, and she went on to be the first person to graduate with a Masters in Journalism there in 1927. When Wirt Benson respectfully declined a pay cut, the Syndicate hired Walter Karig to take up the reins. Karig wrote books eight, nine, and 10, and then the Syndicate had Wirt Benson back for books 11 to 25. After another gap in which the books were written by a number of writers, she was asked to write book thirty, and though she was not formally fired as a ghostwriter, she was not asked to write another Nancy Drew after that point.

It is easy to get caught up in the lore of Nancy Drew and the history of her creators, and if the number of times I have info dumped on my husband about this, my special interest, is any indicator, I could go on for days, or at least until my caffeine buzz wears off. But this is a post about Wirt Benson and she also wrote many successful children’s books, 135 in all. She got her start with the Syndicate with the 1927 book Ruth Fielding and Her Great Scenario. Stratemeyer tried Wirt Benson out, as it were, with the well established Ruth Fielding series, and he had her in mind when he pitched the Nancy Drew series to Grosset and Dunlap. At the same time as she was writing the Nancy Drew books, she was also writing Ruth Fielding, Dana Girls, and Honey Bunch books. In the late 1940s, her husband, Asa Wirt*, had a stroke and became ill, suffering a number of debilitating strokes. Meanwhile, Wirt Benson was also caring for their young daughter, Peggy, and working as a reporter. On top of that she had pseudonyms of her own, which is where, in my opinion, she did some of her best writing. 

Wirt Benson’s favourite series was the Penny Parker Mystery Stories, and I can see why. Penny is everything I believe Nancy Drew could have been if Wirt Benson had been in complete control of the writing of these books. Penny, the daughter of a newspaper man, often writes articles for her father’s paper. She is an enthusiastic and casual girl who doesn’t take anything too seriously, even when her investigating pitches her into the most dire of circumstances. The more I learn about Wirt Benson, the more I see her in the strong women she wrote. The first book Penny Parker book, Tale of the Witch Doll (1939), begins with Penny doing an expert high-dive. Like the character she created, Wirt Benson was a lauded diver in her youth. As well as being on the competitive swim team at her university, where she took part in relays and diving, she also played on the basketball team, the soccer team, wrote for the school paper, the Daily Iowan. In high school she played baseball, basketball, volleyball, acted in the senior class play, played the xylophone, and outside of school she played the slide trombone in the Ladora Band.

After being enthralled by flying in her youth, in 1964, when she was 59 years old, she got her pilot’s licence. It’s no wonder she wrote young women like Nancy Drew and Ruth Darrow who also flew planes. Suddenly all of her extremely talented heroines don’t seem so far fetched. I have often thought while reading a Nancy Drew, “is there nothing this woman can’t do?” and now I am much more inclined to believe a real live person can be as adventurous, talented, and well rounded as Nancy.  

Wirt Benson was talented and clearly had many interests, but writing was her number one objective from an early age. “I always wanted to be a writer from the time I could walk. I had no other thought except that I wanted to write.” She learned to read very early and was soon reading everything she could get her hands on. Her own town of Ladora was too small to have a library, but when possible her father would drop her off at the public library in a nearby town, and there she would spend eight hours at a time reading. 

“Writing is a way of life for me,” she said. “It’s like getting up and having breakfast.” She wrote for the Daily Iowan during university, and after graduating she wrote for the Clinton Iowa Herald, in 1944 she started working at the Toledo Blade, when it was the Toledo Times, working there for the next 58 years. On the afternoon of 28 May 2002, she filed what would be her last story. Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson, Millie, as she liked to be called, died around 8 p.m. that evening in hospital. She was 96 years old.

Through writing this I have realised that when I picture Wirt Benson, she is impossibly high above the water, mid-dive, or donning her flying cap, about to take flight. As a little girl, I wanted to be like Nancy Drew when grew up. Now, I aspire to be like Millie. 

Happy Birthday Millie.

I want to thank my dear friend Gina (@babsbelovedbooks), without whom my Mildred A. Wirt Benson collection would be almost non-existent. Thanks also to my husband for buying me my first proper vintage Nancy Drew book, and spending way too much money on the Dana Girls edition of my dreams one wedding anniversary.

Many thanks to the literary historians, librarians, journalists, and collectors who have made so much information about dear Millie available. It turns out fans of Nancy Drew make pretty great detectives.

List of references:

“Blade columnist, Nancy Drew author Millie Benson dies at age 96”: Mark Zaborney and George J. Tanber, Toledo Blade, May 29, 2002. 

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her (2005) by Melanie Rehak 

“It’s no mystery why Nancy Drew author still writes: ‘It’s a way of life’”: John Seewer, The Associated Press, January 1, 2002.

Nancy Drew Sleuth website run by Jennifer Fisher

Series Books for Girls website run by Jennifer White

University of Iowa archives, Mildred Wirt Benson Collection

There is a lot of misinformation around Nancy Drew and Mildred A. Wirt Benson out there, I sincerely hope none has crept in here. If there are any inaccuracies they are my own and not the fault of the listed sources.

*Asa Wirt died in 1947. In 1959 she married, George Benson.

***If you got something out of this post, please consider subscribing to my blog. You can find the email sign up on the right hand side at the top of this page (on desktop version only), or click on the link here. You will receive a confirmation email in your inbox (or possibly your junk folder). Once you click to confirm your email address you will receive an email notification whenever a new blog post goes up. And, of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Whether you subscribe or not, I’m thankful you are here.***

This blog contains affiliate links for Blackwell’s. As a Blackwell’s Affiliate, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase through one of the links on my website. I recommend Blackwell’s because I use them myself. This helps support me in sharing—what I hope is—valuable content. Thank you for your support!

56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Haunted Bridge

Book 15

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post.

Editions pictured: OT (25 chapters, 220 pages); RT (20 chapters, 180 pages)

OT publication date: 1937

My OT edition printed: approx. 1942

OT cover illustrated by: Russell Tandy

RT publication date: 1972

My RT edition printed: approx. 1972

RT cover illustrated by: Rudy Nappi

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

Editors: Edna Stratemeyer Squier & Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Revised by: Priscilla Baker-Carr

OT & RT setting: Deer Mountain Hotel (a summer resort with a championship golf course), Andover (town near the hotel)

Introduction

I’ve been enjoying the experience of reading both the original text (OT) and the revised text (RT) Nancy Drews so much that when I saw an early edition of The Haunted Bridge with a dust wrapper, and for a reasonable price, I had to order it. I would love to be able to blame my waiting for that book to arrive as the reason this post is going up so much later than planned. But the book was annoyingly prompt in arriving at my door! The problem was getting myself to read the thing. I found the OT to be shockingly similar to the RT. It was so similar that reading these within the same month felt like trying to read the same book twice in a row. If you are filling in the gaps in your Nancy Drew collection I would say you could hold off on acquiring the alternate version of this one. There are other titles in this series that differ greatly between the two versions, but The Haunted Bridge is not one of them.

Synopsis

Nancy Drew and her friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, are visiting Deer Mountain Hotel with Nancy’s father, Carson Drew, who is there on legal business. The summer resort boasts many sporting activities, in addition to a champion golf course, which is where the girls spend most of their days. It’s the lead up to a championship tournament for amateur golfers and the club’s golf pro has urged Nancy to enter. Nancy is playing a qualifying round when she drives her ball into a patch of woods bordering the sixteenth hole. Nancy is keen to retrieve her lost ball as it is one signed by Jimmy Harlow. But Nancy’s caddy refuses to go near the footbridge which stands at the other side of the woods. Apparently, the bridge is haunted and all of the caddies are scared of the woods! But we know by now that Nancy doesn’t believe in spooks. Nevertheless, she is eager to find out what it is that has the caddies so afraid of the spot. 

Nancy soon discovers that the ghost is a rigged up scarecrow and the moaning sound is nothing more than the wind in the trees. But someone has gone to some length to deter people from exploring the woods and Nancy wants to know why. In her investigation, Nancy finds a chest on the muddy riverbank, which turns out to be chock full of jewelry. Meanwhile, Carson Drew has been investigating a notorious smuggling gang and guess what they’ve been smuggling? Jewels! Nancy suspects the chest of jewelry has something to do with these international jewel thieves. Carson Drew gets Nancy’s help by going around to the hotels in the area on the lookout for a suspect who is supposed to have a jewelled compact mirror in her possession. Inside the compact there is said to be a photo of a little boy. In a hotel powder room, Nancy strikes up a conversation with a woman who has a jewelled compact, but there is no photo inside. Logically, the photo could simply have been removed, but Nancy doesn’t believe the kind woman she talked to could be a jewel thief. Besides, when she complimented the woman about the eye-catching compact, the woman had been perfectly willing to talk about it and show it to Nancy. (As we all know, in Nancy Drew Land, baddies act suspiciously, and have cruel faces!)

But there is also a loyal gardener living in a cabin in the woods that has outdoor enclosures filled with injured or orphaned wild animals. The man still potters around the garden of the Judson mansion even though the family haven’t been back to the property since the big fire that demolished the place. When the gardener gets injured and needs round-the-clock care, Ned and his friends arrive on the scene just in time to offer their services. 

As all of this is going on, Nancy is competing in a golf tournament, which she fits her sleuthing around. Things are looking good for Nancy, that is until she falls off a balcony into some bushes when she tries to avoid coming into close contact with unwanted male attention. Mortimer Bartescue, or Martin, as he is called in the RT, is the kind of many any woman in their right mind would gladly throw themselves off a balcony to avoid. Unfortunately, Nancy painfully injures her hand, which makes it difficult to play golf. But, lucky for Nancy, even an injured hand and an accusation of cheating doesn’t prevent her from winning the tournament, finding the missing Judson girl, reuniting a couple, uncovering a band of international jewel thieves, and solving the mystery of the haunted bridge. Not that the “haunted bridge” really has anything to do with the rest of the story, but it is an undeniably intriguing title!

Reading the same book twice

I should say that unlike what I have done in the past, I did not take extensive notes on these books as I was reading. I am sure with a closer reading one would discover more differences than the few I picked out. The biggest differences I found were the fact that in the RT Mortimer Bartescue was changed to Martin Bartescue. Perhaps Mortimer was not as fashionable a name in 1972 as it was in 1937. I cannot say I have ever met a Mortimer, so maybe the name change wasn’t such a bad idea.

But the biggest difference I noted is the addition of Burt and Dave to the RT. These friends of Ned Nickerson’s from college are introduced in the RT as “Burt Eddleton, George’s friend, and Dave Evans, who dated Bess” (RT 94). In the OT Ned arrives at Deer Mountain Hotel with Bud Mason and Bill Cowan, who are first referred to as “two strange youths” (OT 120). I don’t believe we get any description that distinguishes them from each other, despite this being the first time Nancy or the other girls are introduced to them. As far as I can tell they are only there so that Ned has help looking after Joe Haley, the gardener, and so that when the group go to one of the hotel dances, there is an even number of males to females.

One scene, two books

I thought I’d pick a favourite scene to display just how similar these books are. The bolded text is where the two versions differ. The two instances where wording has simply been altered have been italicized. 

First we have the scene in the OT.

[T]he girls made their way toward the haunted bridge. Dark clouds were moving swiftly overhead, and by the time the chums reached the woods a strong wind was blowing.

"Do you think it will rain soon?" Bess asked anxiously, scanning the sky overhead.

"Oh, not for an hour at least," Nancy replied carelessly. "Even if it should, we'll be partially protected by trees. Let's not turn back now."

The girls struck off through the timber, and soon were within view of the old bridge. With the sun under a cloud it was dark and gloomy beneath the canopy of trees. Bess shivered and kept close to her companions. Suddenly they were startled to hear the same groaning sound which had frightened them on their previous visit.

"Oh!" Bess squealed in terror, clutching George's arm. "There it is again!"

Nancy warned her to be quiet, and for several minutes the girls stood perfectly still, waiting for the sound to be repeated. No one could be seen anywhere near the bridge.

"I believe the noise came from far down the ravine," Nancy whispered after she was convinced that the groan would not be repeated. "Come on, let's investigate."

After briefly searching the locality near the bridge, the girls turned their attention to the trail which had interested them upon their first visit to the spot. Footprints were plainly visible. Nancy wondered if someone had not used the path within the past twenty-four hours.

"Let's not go that way today," Bess pleaded, reading her chum's thoughts. "It's growing darker every instant, and we don't want to be caught in a storm."

Scarcely had the words been spoken when a shrill scream broke the stillness of the forest.

This time Nancy was certain that the cry had come from far down the ravine.

"Come on!" she urged excitedly. "We'll solve this old mystery yet!" (OT 109-10)

Now, for the same scene in the RT.

The girls made their way toward the haunted bridge. Dark clouds were moving swiftly overhead, and by the time they reached the woods a strong wind was blowing.

Soon they were within view of the old bridge.

Bess shivered and kept close to her companions.

Suddenly they were startled to hear the same moaning and groaning sounds which had perplexed them on their first visit.

"Oh!" Bess squealed, clutching George's arm.

Nancy warned her to be quiet, and for several minutes the girls stood perfectly still, waiting for the sound to be repeated. There was only a rustle of leaves in the breeze.

"I believe the noise came from somewhere right around here," said Nancy. "Let's investigate. Maybe we'll find someone's in hiding, playing a joke."

The girls searched through the brush and trees near both ends of the bridge, but found no one. Then they explored the trail they had seen on their previous visit which led along the ravine. Footprints were clearly visible. Had someone used the path within the past twenty-four hours?

A moment later a shrill scream broke the stillness. This time Nancy was certain that the cry had come from some distance up the ravine.

"Let's go!" she urged excitedly. "We'll solve the mystery of these strange sounds yet!" (RT 88-89)

As you can see the two texts are remarkably similar. The passage from the OT is 310 words while the RT is 214, which means 31% has been cut from the OT. But as the OT is 220 pages in its entirety and the RT is 180 pages, I would say that on average 19% of the OT has been cut. This is just an estimate, of course, because we are comparing page numbers, not word count. For the most part all that has been removed from the RT is description. Although, in the RT Nancy suggests that the sounds might be from someone “playing a joke”, which diffuses some of the tension. In the OT there is no such explanation offered, and the tension is left to continue to build as the scene plays out. I think most of us would agree that the OT is more atmospheric, but when you are aiming to cut down a text it does make the most sense to start with anything that could be construed as unessential. I must admit that it wasn’t until I was reading these two passages side by side that I was aware there was any difference, besides the change from the friends being referred to as “the chums” to simply “they”. 

Final thoughts

In my opinion, the person who revised the OT, Priscilla Baker-Carr, did a wonderful job. As I said at the outset, I felt like I was reading the same book twice. Nothing important had been altered and I think that readers who are most familiar with the OT could read the RT of this one and recognize the same Nancy. But I wonder if this is because The Haunted Bridge is a fairly tame book. This isn’t a book full of dramatic scenes like some of the other Nancy Drews I have read in the OT. For example, the OT of The Whispering Statue has Nancy save two people from a burning plane that has crash landed in the ocean. In that same book a house set on eroding cliffs is taken by the sea with Nancy inside! Both versions of The Haunted Bridge have a lot of golf, some dances, a bit of exploring in the woods, a suspected forger is locked in a caddy club house until the authorities arrive, Nancy, Bess, and George surreptitiously follow a car, and Nancy confronts a thief with a lot of backup near by, and that’s about it! Minus a brief scene when Nancy falls through a bridge and gets swept away by a storm swollen stream, The Haunted Bridge doesn’t go in for big drama and there was very little bonkersness. I cannot believe I am saying this, because I’ve never thought of myself as a fan of the less believable aspects of these books, but I think more drama and bonkersness would have made this a better book.

Coming up next…

Next time, I will be discussing the Nancy Drew with Persian kittens, tap dancing, Morse code, and a secret room. It’s The Clue of the Tapping Heels. I can assure you that we are in for bonkersness in spades with this one!

While you’re waiting for me to come up the goods, why not check out my new favourite podcast, Regular Nancy Drew? As always, I am late to the party on this one. Regular Nancy Drew has been recording since early 2021 and they already have 92 episodes in the bank. Listening to the hosts, Becky and Kori, is like chatting with your best friends about Nancy Drew. You can find Regular Nancy Drew just about anywhere you can listen to podcasts. But I must warn you that just like your favourite Nancy Drew, it’s very addictive. My friend and fellow Nancy Drew fan, the talented author, Barbara Matteson, introduced me to this podcast three weeks ago and I’ve been listening to about one episode a day ever since. It is so good!