10 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, November 14, 2000 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Sketches of Scugog by Paul Arculus Sketches of Scugog is a historical column written by local resident and historian Paul Arculus and published in the Port Perry Star each month. UCY MAUD MONTGOMERY, author of "Anne of Green Gables" and many other popular novels, took up residence at Leaskdale with her husband, the Reverend Ewan Macdonald in 1911. Macdonald was the Presbyterian minister of the joint charge of Leaskdale and Zephyr. Their two sons were born while they lived at Leaskdale. While at Leaskdale, Maud wrote 7 novels including "Anne of the Island," "Anne's House of Dreams" and "Emily of the New Moon." Anyone who reads a novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery becomes immediately aware of her love of the natural world. She makes frequent and detailed references to trees and animals and, particularly, to flowers. On September 25, 1925, Lucy Maud Montgomery visited the Kent Gardens in Port Perry for the first time. The property, which was later developed into the Kent Gardens had a succession of owners including Thomas Paxton, Joseph Bigelow, Dr. J. H. " property into an elaborate set é 4 The home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kent, at Beechcroft Sangster and Jonathan Blong. Dr. Sangster had built an elaborate home on the waterfront estate. He named it "Beechenhurst" and established extensive gar- dens on the property. This burned down in March, 1881. The Sangsters built a new home, which was also destroyed by fire in 1893. Disillusioned, Dr Sangster sold the property to Jonathan Blong in January 1895 and moved to a new home on Casimir Street. Blong, a Toronto businessman, had bought out Joseph Bigelow in 1878, acquiring his three-storey emporium on Queen Street where the Settlement House shops now stand. Blong built a new home on the former Sangster estate in 1895, and moved into it in January 1896. This house, which he named "Beechcroft," sur- vived and is still an imposing residence on the lake shore on the northern edge of Port Perry. Lucy Maud Montgomery visits Kent Estate Gardens Lucy Maud Montgomery suffered from bouts of severe depression, as did her husband, Reverend Ewan A Macdonald. It is obvious from & Maud's diary that she found par- b ticular solace in the profusion of hp flowers in the Kent Gardens. bl She returned to visit the Kent i gardens several times. The Macdonalds moved to Blong sold the property to William Gimby who in turn sold it to Frederick Kentin 1911. Kent was a successful Toronto jeweller. Immediately after he / had bought "Beechcroft" he pro- ceeded to turn his eight acre of gardens. Kent's gardens became an obsession for him. He created elaborate walkways, lawns, fountains, and a reflecting pool. | He even built his own water- works to treat the gardens. He bought an additional 15 acres in 1915, and hired a full-time gar- dener and caretaker. Kent also built a home for him on the prop- erty. In June, 1921, Frederick Kent and his wife Ethel opened their gardens to the public. The Kent Gardens became a major provincial tourist attraction and in 1922 the Toronto Telegram declared that they were among the most beautiful in the province. An indication of its popularity became obvious when on Sunday, September, 17, 1923, over 1,000 visitors came to see the dahlias in bloom in the Kent Gardens. The Port Perry Standard reported that on Sunday July 7, 1924, over 400 automobiles and 2000 people visited the Kent Gardens to see the roses in bloom. On September 5, 1925, Lucy Maude Montgomery wrote in her journal: "Today we went down to see 'the gardens' at Port Perry. A wealthy Toronto man is making a hobby of his gardens there. It is a wonderful spot, especially the "italian garden' and as | roamed about in it and drank my fill of beauty, life seemed a different thing and childhood not so very far off. One felt safe from the hungry world in that garden. | came home with a fresh stock of courage and endurance." { February 1926. During their J stay at Leaskdale they had made many close friends and J they returned to visit the area P| frequently. Maud included a visit J to the Kent gardens on some of her return visits to the area. When Ethel Kent died in 1930, Kent closed his gardens and became somewhat of a recluse. His gardens deteriorated. He sold the northern two acres to the community in 1949 to allow the construction of the Community Memorial Hospital, now the Community Nursing Home. Frederick Kent lived in "Beechcroft" until his Lucy Maud Montgomery, as an attractive 26 year old, when she worked at the Halifax Echo. death in 1955. His daughter continued to live there, but by then the gardens were beyond redemption. : A consortium of Port Perry businessmen, Glenn Van Camp, Ted Griffen, Grant MacDonald and Howard Forder bought the property and subdivid- ed it to form the present day Kent Estates. Hans Kraupa bought the Kent's summer home, the house built by Blong, and began restoring it. Lucy Maud Montgomery died in Toronto at the age of 68 in 1942, and was buried at Cavendish in PEL, very close to the setting for her international- ly acclaimed first novel "Anne of Green Gables." Unfortunately the Kent Gardens are now only a The beautiful gardens at Kent Estates during the 1920s. memory, albeit a well documented one. Scugog: The Early Years Scugog: The Early Years will take the reader on a historic journey from 1821, when Reuben Crandell marched out of the bush at Lake Scugog, through to the turn of the century. Get one today at The Port Perry Star, Books Galore and More Scugog: The Early Years is the latest in a series of local history books written by Paul Arculus and Peter Hvidsten. Must reading for history buffs!