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Source: The Avonlea Traditions Chronicle, Issue No. 20, Summer 1997.

There is some confusion as to which house is the "real" Green Gables - the house in Cavendish or the house used in the filming of Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables movies.

Green Gables in Cavendish is the house L. M. Montgomery was thinking of when she wrote her famous book. It was where her Macneill cousins lived. "Green Gables was drawn from David Macneill's house, now Mr. Webb's...the truth of my description of it is attested by the fact that everybody has recognized it." [THE SELECTED JOURNALS OF L. M. MONTGOMERY, VOL. II, JANUARY 27, 1911]

The houses (there were two, one for closeups and one for long shots) used in the movie are both in Southern Ontario and are privately owned. Most of the principal filming was done in Southern Ontario, and as well, the real Green Gables is constantly in use as a tourist attraction, making it inaccessible as a movie set. The house used for closeups is on Steeles Avenue in Cedar Grove. It is white with a green roof, green shutters and gables like the one in Prince Edward Island, but is quite a bit larger, with a roomy verandah. Although the gables are not painted green, the front gable has an attractive green lattice frame.

The house used for long shots is on the Avonlea set located just outside of Uxbridge. This is the same house which was featured as Lantern Hill in the movie of the same name, based on L. M. Montgomery's book Jane of Lantern Hill, and was painted blue to become the King farmhouse in Road to Avonlea.

Interior filming for all these houses was done in a warehouse in Toronto, not only out of respect for the families living there, but also for convenience of camera angles.

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