Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Scotland. Bell’s mother was deaf, and, as a child, he became fascinated by speech and communication. In 1870, Bell and his family moved to Ontario.

The island’s most famous author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, was born in Cavendish in 1874. Nearby Green Gables House became the setting of her internationally best-selling novel, Anne of Green Gables (1908), set in the late 19th century.