Fall Foliage Cruise — Prince Edward Island; St. Augustine Church

Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas arrived into Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), on October 10 of this year. Here we joined up with several other passengers for a privately arranged tour with a really fun chap, Cyril Arsenault, who owns and operates Cyril’s Tours and Tales. Cyril has some really great tales. Indeed, listening to his fantastic life, it appears he’s done just about everything short of brain surgery or bank robbery. The man has done most everything else, including commercial fishing, commercial crabbing (think: Deadliest Catch), and working the oil sands of Alberta.

One of our stops this day was near the small town of South Rustico for a visit at the St. Augustine Catholic Church, and the nearby picturesque Farmers’ Bank of Rustico (1864-1894) and the Doucet House Museums. Alas, the lighting was pretty bad for the Farmers’ Bank. Even so, I’ll post a photograph of it on Wednesday. Here is Doucet House:

Right next to St. Augustine is a charming property, which I assume may have been the vicarage (clergy house) for the church:

St. Augustine Catholic Church was built on this site back in 1838, and it is the oldest parish church within the Diocese of Charlottetown. It’s also one of the oldest Catholic churches on P.E.I.

Next to St. Augustine, to the west side, you’ll find a graveyard worthy of a picture or two:

Here are two photographs of the interior of the church:

Going back outside and heading slightly east you’ll find these vantages:

But one of my favorite images depicts the stone entry arch to the church grounds, the vicarage framed inside the arch, and the church forming a dramatic backdrop: