Becoming Green Gables Podcast

The latest episode in the Witness to Yesterday podcast series by The Champlain Society is called Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse. In this episode, host Nicole O'Byrne speaks with author Alan MacEachern about his book Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse, which was published in 2024. It's the history of Green Gables, the farm and home that inspired the setting of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables.

Here are details on the podcast from The Champlain Society's website.

Episode Details:

Nicole O'Byrne speaks with Alan MacEachern about his book Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse. In 1909 Myrtle and Ernest Webb took possession of a Cavendish, Prince Edward Island farm—ordinary except that it was already known as the inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, written by Myrtle’s cousin, L. M. Montgomery. The Webbs welcomed visitors to “Green Gables” and took in summer boarders, making their home central to PEI’s growing tourist trade. In the 1930s the farm became the centerpiece of a new national park, though the family remained its caretakers for another decade.

During these years Myrtle kept a diary. When she began in 1924, she was a forty-year-old homemaker managing a household of eight; by 1954, she was a seventy-year-old widow, no longer resident in what had become the most famous house in Canada. In Becoming Green Gables, Alan MacEachern reproduces a selection of her diary entries, using them to explore topics from modern conveniences to wartime hosting and visits from “Aunt Maud” herself.

Alan MacEachern is professor of history at the University of Western Ontario and has written widely on Canadian environmental history.

Series Description:

Witness to Yesterday

This series of podcasts furthers the Champlain Society's mission of deepening awareness of Canada’s documentary past and of the people who created it. Hosted by Greg Marchildon, Nicole O’Byrne, Larry Ostola, and Simon Nantais, each podcast examines a particular document, the people behind it, its significance, and its relevance to today.

This podcast is made possible by the members of the Champlain Society who work hard to bring to life original documents in Canadian history. We want to thank a number of Canadian scholarly book publishers including the University of Toronto Press, UBC Press and McGill-Queen’s University Press for their financial support.

Credits:

Podcast series: Witness to Yesterday
Episode 330: Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse
Date: 19 September 2025
Host: Nicole O'Byrne
Special Guest: Alan MacEachern
Published by The Champlain Society


Official website:

Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse at The Champlain Society

Image credit:

Screencapture from The Champlain Society's website.


Created September 19, 2025.
© worldofanneshirley.com

The Green Gables Diary Website

This past summer, a website called The Green Gables Diary launched. It is a digital exhibition that accompanies the new book Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse by Alan MacEachern. The book tells the story of Myrtle Webb and her family, who owned the farm that Myrtle's cousin L.M. Montgomery based "Green Gables" upon. Once a simple farm, Myrtle's home became a tourist destination when it became known as the inspiration behind Anne of Green Gables. Eventually, Myrtle had to leave her home when Parks Canada decided to form a national park in Cavendish with Green Gables as its centerpiece.

Myrtle kept a diary from 1924 to 1954, providing a historical record of what her life was like living in "the most famous house in Canada." The Green Gables Diary contains digital scans and a transcription of her entire diary, as well as photographs and introductory materials to learn more about Myrtle Webb, her family, and the history of Green Gables.


Official Website:
The Green Gables Diary

Image Credit:
Screencapture of The Green Gables Diary website.

Reference:
MacEachern, Alan. (2024). The Green Gables Diary. Retrieved from: https://greengablesdiary.ca/.

Purchase and read Becoming Green Gables by Alan MacEachern:


Created September 24, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Becoming Green Gables

Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse is a book by Alan MacEachern that will be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in June 2024. Myrtle and Ernest Webb owned the farm that their cousin L.M. Montgomery based "Green Gables" upon. According to The Green Gables Diary website: "In spring 1924, Myrtle Webb began keeping a diary about her life on an ordinary farm in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Ordinary but for one thing: it was growing famous as the inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, written by her cousin L.M. Montgomery."

MacEachern's book tells "The story of the family whose home inspired Anne of Green Gables and how that literary connection enriched - and upended - their lives." His book examines the history of Green Gables and how the popularity of L.M. Montgomery's novel affected the Webb family and tourism to Prince Edward Island.

A digital exhibition that will accompany the book called "The Green Gables Diary" will launch this spring at: https://greengablesdiary.ca/

Here is the description of the book from McGill-Queen’s University Press:

In 1909 Myrtle and Ernest Webb took possession of an ordinary farm in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Ordinary but for one thing: it was already becoming known as inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, the novel written by Myrtle’s cousin Lucy Maud Montgomery and published to international acclaim a year earlier. The Webbs welcomed visitors to “Green Gables” and soon took in summer boarders, making their home the heart of PEI’s tourist trade. In the 1930s the farm was made the centrepiece of a new national park - and still the family lived there for another decade, caretakers of their own home. During these years Myrtle kept a diary. When she first picked up the pencil in 1924, she was a forty-year-old homemaker running a household of eight. By the time she set the pencil down in 1954, she was a seventy-year-old widow, no longer resident in what was now the most famous house in Canada. Becoming Green Gables tells the story of Myrtle Webb and her family, and the making of Green Gables. Alan MacEachern reproduces a selection of the diary’s daily entries, using them as springboards to examine topics ranging from the adoption of modern conveniences to the home front hosting of soldiers in wartime and visits from “Aunt Maud” herself. While the foundation of Becoming Green Gables is the Webbs’ own story, it is also a history of their famous home, their community, the nation, and the world in which they lived.

Reviews

“Humorous in some places and a tearjerker in others, Becoming Green Gables captures an untold story about the famed Green Gables and home-grown tourism prior to the founding of the national park.”
–Catharine Anne Wilson, author of Being Neighbours: Cooperative Work and Rural Culture, 1830-1960

“Becoming Green Gables provides an appreciation of the complex grassroots history of one of Canada’s most beloved historical sites.”
–Melanie J. Fishbane, author of Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery

I am looking forward to reading this book and the launch of the digital exhibit.

Image credit:
Book cover of Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse by Alan MacEachern from McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Official website:
The Green Gables Diary

Purchase and read Becoming Green Gables:


Created May 14, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com