Prince Edward Island’s Scenic Heritage Roads

P.E.I. has 11 roads that are officially designated as “Scenic Heritage Roads.” They are unpaved and usually just a few kilometres long — old red-clay roads that linked farms to towns and people to their neighbours. Another five old roads are protected in a limited way, but not actually designated as Scenic Heritage Roads.

They’re preserved in much the same state as when they were first used more than 100 years ago, sometimes offering glorious vistas but often sheltered by canopies of trees that form a tunnel over the road. Native hardwoods, such as red maple, sugar maple, red oak and beech combine with pine, spruce and hemlock. Ferns, mosses and trillium grow on the shaded ground, while wild flowers, such as daisies, black-eyed Susans, Queen Anne’s lace and lupins grow in open areas.

The purpose, according to the P.E.I. Department of Tourism, is “to provide the travelling public with an opportunity to travel on a road that reflects the ambience and scenery of yesteryear.” Many owners of adjacent land volunteer to preserve a strip of woodland or hedgerow. This maintains a buffer zone, so the canopies can thrive.

I drove on Jack’s Road, which was used in the early 1900s to access the farm of Jack MacPherson. The Department of Tourism describes it as “a narrow, winding trail where time seems to stand still — this rustic passage is a gentle reminder of simpler times past.”

Jack’s Road is nearly seven kilometres of one-lane track, though it’s open to traffic in both directions, and farm machinery sometimes uses it to access fields. Much of the road was dry and firm, but occasional large puddles kept out casual visitors. Farm fields were visible through the hedgerows to the west. Dense woods to the east provide a home to red fox and hares, all of which stayed clear when I splashed though in the Forester.