When I was in elementary school, I had one of those “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” books filled with interesting oddities from around the world. One such oddity was a house made of glass bottles in Prince Edward Island, and I always found it fascinating. I wondered if you could live in a house made of glass bottles. Fast forward to July 2025, where I got to go to Prince Edward Island. One of the things that I got to go see were The Bottle Houses and Gardens in the southwest corner of the island. The Bottle Houses are a set of three structures made of glass bottles built by Edouard Arsenault in the early 1980s. Bottles dotted the walls with mortar while the wood frames and shingled roofs supported the structures.
After walking into the gift shop and paying the admission fee (which was around $10-$15), the caretaker led me through a separate door where the bottle houses were. So right in front of the gift shop was a beautiful garden with many flowers and a pond.
The first bottle structure that I visit was the second structure built on the premises, and inside this bottle house was a bar area with many glass bottles on display. I would imagine that this would be a great place to have a bottle of beer or some spirits, and then you could donate the glass bottles.
There were some other structures of interest behind the bottle houses, including a miniature lighthouse that you could enter. There were also some books in the lighthouse with different types of plants that you could look at.
My attention turned to the original bottle house, which was the picture I remember from my old “Ripley’s” book. It is a bit crazy remembering seeing something innocuous in a book, and then actually going to see the same thing years later. I walk inside, and the thing that I notice is how the bottles reflect the light coming from outside. It was a cloudy day when I visited the bottle houses, but you could imagine how kaleidoscopic the interior could be when the sun hits the bottles in the right way.
Inside this bottle house was a book on the history of Edouard Arsenault and how he came to build the bottle houses, as well as some small bottles/shot glasses on display, a little cabinet, and a piano that does not work.
Walking through the side of the garden, I come to the final bottle house, which is a chapel. The chapel had all the fixings, including an altar and pews where you could sit. I think this was the most impressive structure of the three.
I spent the rest of my time wandering the garden and the gift shop. As this place was of Acadian heritage, there were many Acadian trinkets on sale.
The Bottle Houses and Gardens are certainly worth visiting if you happen to be in the area (even if the place is a bit isolated), and the bottle houses are remarkable to look at. You also get a bit of a window into the Acadian culture if this is something you are looking for. I am glad that I got some closure on an oddity that piqued my interest many years ago.
More pictures below:
No comments:
Post a Comment