Horses run near the ocean on Prince Edward Island. (Shutterstock)

Canada's most beautiful isles Odd Canadian islands

CHARLOTTETOWN -- Treasure Island, one might think, is a jewel in the Caribbean, the locale of a Robert Louis Stevenson novel. In fact, it lies off Canada's east coast and has the magical ability to freeze time.

Top-hatted gentlemen, hoop-skirted ladies, clog-shoed farmers, pig-tailed red-haired lasses, and ever-present Acadian, Scots and Irish fiddlers come to life in virtually every corner of the Garden of the Gulf, the Cradle of Confederation, or as it calls itself these days, the Gentle Island.

Truly, if God was Canadian, Prince Edward Island would be His Eden.

At least in summer; balmy climate notwithstanding, P.E.I. weather can turn nasty. It's common for winter events to have "storm" dates and for townsfolk to head home from the office at noon to avoid snowdrifts whipped 1 1/2 metres high by winds off Northumberland Strait or Gulf of St. Lawrence, neither more than 15 km away.

We spent a month in Canada's smallest province in July, so lay plans now for next summer if you want to visit when activities celebrating Island life, culture and history are running full tilt. Fall is colourful and quiet, winter brisk and spring an awakening experience in this pastoral, laid-back, idyllic realm.

Islanders are aware of their place in Canadian history (the number of Maple Leaf flags flying from houses is something we all could copy) but their very soul lies in the patchwork fields of potatoes, corn and wheat, pastures of contented dairy cows, the white and red beaches encircling the island and, most of all, the music.

This isn't your Don Messers, Charlie Chamberlains or Stompin' Toms. This is Leon Gallant, Mike Pendergast, Gordon Belsher, Richard Wood, and Cynthia MacLeod. This is Scots and Irish ceilidhs (kay-lees) and "kitchen parties" where the fiddle is the driving engine.

You can experience the toe-tapping, hand-clapping tunes -- On the Red Dirt Road, Down by the Bay B'y, (They're playing our) Island Favourites (in the Legion at Rustico Bay), or the rum-running exploits of the storied Nellie J. Banks -- to sing or dance along to, and the jigs and reels that snap you out of your lethargy, almost any night of week in community halls across the Island. (OK, OK, admittedly they might put Bud the Spud on the program).

And if you're based in Charlottetown, you're no more than about 90 minutes away from the furthest. Charlottetown has a population of about 32,000 people and is loaded with yesteryear -- Province House, where Confederation was conceived in 1864, Founders' Hall on the waterfront which celebrates that event, massive century-old churches such as Trinity United (1863, originally Methodist), St. Paul's Anglican (1896) and St. Dunstan's Roman Catholic basilica (1907).

Even the transit buses are built to resemble Victorian-era trolleys. The downtown is compact and very pedestrian-friendly. You can even stay in Fairholm Mansion, built in 1838, and now a national historic site -- starting at about $500-plus a night.

Turn-of-the-century downtown residences are multi-coloured, like you see on the TV commercials for Newfoundland, many no more than a metre apart, fronting right on the sidewalk. They're usually two- to 2 1/2-storeys high, often gabled and turreted.

In the countryside, church steeples are P.E.I. landmarks the way grain elevators are (or used to be) in the west. These are invariably white and steep-roofed, perched on a rise of ground, and the majority seem to be Presbyterian or Catholic -- no surprise when you consider two rootstocks of early Islanders, the Scots and Acadians. The oldest church is St. John's Presbyterian, erected in 1824 by Lord Selkirk's settlers.

There is a historic village at Orwell Corner that captures life in 1895, including an agricultural heritage museum, one-room schoolhouse, shingle mill, carriage house, blacksmith and general store featuring goods such as Perry Davis Pain Killer (which Mark Twain described as "most detestable"), Keiller's Dundee marmalade (still produced today), and toilet paper in square packets. Costumed staff show you pioneer techniques including how to make candles and ropes.

And there are the sentinel lighthouses, ringing the province from North Cape and Tignish Run "up west" to East Point and Cape Bear (the first to hear the Titanic's SOS) "down east." The oldest is Point Prim, built in 1845 at Charlottetown harbour.

Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne Shirley is a go-to attraction for fans, centred on the Green Gables Shore, but an equally iconic lure is Cows Creamery with outlets at sites such as Avonlea Village at Cavendish or Peake's Wharf in the capital. It's not just the thick and rich cones (starting at about $4) but the tongue-in-cheek labels -- Sidney Cowsby and Tim Holstein Double Double for example -- on everything from T-shirts to playing cards.

And the crafts! Woollens, sea glass, carvings, paintings, sculpture, pottery. My wife was in heaven (which is why we brought an extra suitcase)!

FWTW and more

People can joke all they want about "heart attack on a plate" when they refer to poutine, the classic French-Canadian combo of fries, cheese curds and gravy, but as Al Jolson quipped in the first talkie movie, "You ain't seen nothin' yet" -- not until you visit Prince Edward Island.

Fries With The Works (FWTW), apparently a P.E.I. creation, is a melange of french fries, fried hamburger, fried onions, gravy and peas (mushrooms are optional). It's surprisingly delicious but be careful: One order is sufficient for two people with adventurous appetites at Charlottetown's Hunter's Ale House restaurant.

The Island may be famed for its seafood -- including Malpeque oysters, blue mussels, scallops, cod, haddock, shrimp and the omnipresent lobster (including Subway's lobster wrap and McDonald's McLobster) -- but for those "From Away," FWTW is but one example of another world of culinary delights or, depending on your taste buds and digestive tract, maybe not.

Take the invention, about 1938 it seems, of the tuna and jelly sandwich, a mixture of canned tuna, lime or orange Jello-O, Miracle Whip, grated carrot, green onions and whipping cream. It is, apparently, to die for. Or how about lobster-flavoured potato chips? Mmm-MMM! A snack right up there with chocolate-coated potato chips, chocolate-coated pretzels and chocolate-coated licorice!

Speaking of chocolate, nothing tops off a scrumptious serving of beer-battered haddock at Brits Fish & Chips in Charlottetown than their deep-fried Mars bar served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate syrup.

Islanders' apparent craving for chocolate is only surpassed by battered or breaded deep-fried everything, from veggies to pizza to dill pickles (with honey mustard dipping sauce). And if you want the ultimate "Cardiac Arrest" (so named on the Hunter's Ale House menu), have the paramedics standing by when you munch on the deep-fried spicy pepperoni!

Personally, my hardest menu decisions came at breakfast: Would it be the crab cakes with baked beans or the fried baloney with eggs?

GETTING THERE

WestJet and Air Canada have direct flights to Charlottetown airport. By car, take the Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick or the Wood Islands/Caribou ferry from Nova Scotia. You don't pay to cross to PEI; you do pay to leave ($42 bridge, $64 ferry).