Remembering Jennie Macneill, Preserver of L.M. Montgomery’s Cavendish Home

The L.M. Montgomery Institute mourns the passing of beloved friend, Jennie Macneill (1929–2025).

Jennie (Moore) Macneill was born in Bayview, Prince Edward Island. She was a lifelong reader and fan of L.M. Montgomery, and she even attended the author’s funeral in Cavendish in 1942. When she married John Ernest Macneill in 1953, Jennie actually joined a branch of Montgomery’s family. Though he had once met his famous cousin, John did not grow up knowing about Montgomery’s deep attachment to the Macneill lands on which he and Jennie settled. When the first volume of Montgomery’s Selected Journals was published in 1985, John and Jennie read with amazement and joy how much Montgomery loved the Macneill property, its paths, and its trees.

The hill fields from the site of Montgomery’s Cavendish home.

They decided to dig out and restore the red sandstone foundation of the old farmhouse, liberate the orchard, establish a garden of flowers Montgomery grew and tended, and build a bookstore on the site of one of the barns. Together John and Jennie lifted stones and rebuilt the cellar, dug out the well and created signage framed with wood from the original farm buildings. While John hoed and raked and cut in a never-ending cycle of care, Jennie addressed tourists from around the world, generously sharing her warmth and knowledge with visitors. Signs along the site’s paths, chosen by the Macneills, shared pieces from Montgomery’s journal that expressed her deep and abiding love of the place.

John and Jennie, with their family, decided to dedicate the central acres of their farm to Canada so that as a National Historic Site, the land where Montgomery grew up and learned to dream and to write, and where Anne of Green Gables was born, would be preserved for all to see and to share.

Many thousands of visitors to the Site of Montgomery’s Cavendish Home had the privilege of hearing Jennie tell the story of the site, read passages from Montgomery’s journals, and show them the special artifacts in the bookstore. Many visitors will forever hear Jennie’s voice, reading Montgomery’s words about the site, “It is and ever must be hallowed ground to me.”

In 2018, Jennie and her late husband John were awarded the LMMI’s Legacy Award, for their lifelong contributions to preserving Montgomery’s Island home. We will remember her with gratitude, respect, and love.

Jennie’s funeral service will be held at 11:00 am (Atlantic) at Cavendish United Church on Friday, July 4, 2025. The service will be [updated 7/3] live-streamed recorded and the link to the recording will be available on Tuesday, July 8 via Jennie’s obituary here.

Jennie, reading remarks at the Cavendish United Church in 2014.

Jennie and John Macniell at the LMMI Conference banquet.