Take a Road Less Travelled on Prince Edward Island
Fall is the perfect time to explore Prince Edward Island's Scenic Heritage Roads. These pioneer paths are narrow, red clay lanes with historic and aesthetic value. Once prized by lovers, rumrunners and haunting ghosts, today these peaceful places are treasured by visitors and locals alike.
Fall is the perfect time to explore Prince Edward Island's Scenic Heritage Roads. These pioneer paths are narrow, red clay lanes with historic and aesthetic value. Once prized by lovers, rumrunners and haunting ghosts, today these peaceful places are treasured by visitors and locals alike.
Prince Edward Island moves at its own pace and in late autumn the tempo begins to slow down. The harvest is almost complete and colorful leaves of gold, orange and red kindly signal cooler temperatures. If there was ever a perfect time to explore the Scenic Heritage Roads of PEI, this is it.
Take a slow drive down a winding red dirt road under a full canopy of hardwood. Better yet, explore these pioneer trails on foot and let your senses take over. Breathe deeply! The smell is spicy-sweet, the air is crisp, the sight is breathtaking, and the sound of crunching leaves underfoot will leave you feeling lighthearted.
The Island’s Scenic Heritage Roads are narrow, red clay lanes with historic and aesthetic value. Once prized by rumrunners, lovers and even haunting ghosts, these iconic red dirt roads are no longer just avenues for getting from one place to another but offer unique heritage - each with its own story.
Take the tale of the Junction Road located in the wooded highlands of central Queens County, for example. During the golden age of sawmills, locals became very familiar with the route, calling every hill and hollow by a name. At the first sign of dusk, travelers would hasten down the Junction Road to avoid the low place known as "Spooky Hollow” where mysterious events were rumoured to have occurred after dark.
Today, walkers with a sense of adventure may enjoy the challenge of finding the summit of PEI while in this area. At just 500 feet above sea level, the path does not bear any official signage but is indicated with flagging tape and a little mailbox to mark the highpoint.
The terrain of PEI’s Scenic Heritage Roads is varied and captivating. Steep hills, panoramic views, twists and turns will lure you onward wanting to explore as many of these peaceful places as time will allow – as Robert Frost wrote, it could “make all the difference.”