​Presbyterian Church Manse

~ Story By Stephan Maxted 

You may be interested to know that the Manse (house) behind the Presbyterian Church was built by my second great grandfather, Thomas Maxted. He was a builder like his father back in England. They emigrated in 1859 and settled in Norval, where their family is buried. He also built part of the Church and sold the land for the Church to the Presbytery. But he and his wife Charlotte, my 2nd great grandmother were staunch Anglicans! During her life there at the Manse (1926 - 1935), Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote, "... I love Norval as I have never loved any place save Cavendish (PEI). It is as if I had known it all my life ~ as if I had dreamed young dreams under those pines and walked with my first love down that long perfumed hill." Whilst living in Norval, LMM completed 6 of her 22 novels (The Blue Castle 1926, Emily Quest 1927, Magic for Marigold 1929, A Tangled Web 1931, Mistress Pat 1935, and Pat of Silver Bush 1933) as well as journals, essays, poems and short stories. No doubt the beauty of Norval and the passion she expressed for it inspired her to write during the time she lived there.  ​