The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Bottle Houses are a tourist attraction situated in Cap-Egmont, Prince Edward Island. They were built by the late Edouard T. Arsenault. He was inspired to create after having received a postcard of a glass castle from his daughter in 1979, an attraction she had visited on Vancouver Island. That same summer, he started collecting bottles from his community, mostly from local restaurant, community dance halls, friends relatives and neighbors. He spent the winter in the basement of his home, cleaning bottles, removing labels and dreaming of his project. In the spring of 1980, at the age of 66, he began his construction, a mere hobby yet. As his six-gabled structure was taking form, visitors started coming in. Impressed by his work, they encouraged him to continue and to advertise it as a tourist attraction. And so, in 1981, the Bottle Houses were opened to the public. From 1980 to the spring of 1984, he cleverly cemented over 25,000 bottles of various shapes, sizes and colors, into three fantasy buildings. This retirement project is a fine example of recycling at its best! The proximity of the site to the ocean also makes it a haven for nature lovers and photographers. Something to Ponder: "Nobody ever died of laughter."
