Curiosity struck again. We briefly joined the international throng filing through the reconstructed farmhouse and barn at Green Gables in Prince Edward Island National Park. Truth be told, we were more interested in what lay beyond the farm’s garden gate: the 11th hole of Green Gables Golf Course, the first of six courses we had decided to play.

Green Gables is a 6,459-yard Stanley Thompson design built in 1939 and revamped in the ’80s. It’s a relatively open routing bordered by mature hardwoods. While the course simply doesn’t measure up to the newer venues, Green Gables has some memorable holes on the back nine, where the Lake of Shining Waters comes into play. The signature 16th hole is a lovely 181-yard par 3 that crosses a corner of the lake.

We stopped off at one of the many village halls offering a feast of fresh local lobster, then spent a balmy evening at the Charlottetown Driving Park, a harness racing track near the center of town. Horse racing is a family affair here, with grandfathers and teenagers competing in spindly-wheeled sulkies while the townsfolk cheer from the grandstand.

The next morning, a 25-minute drive took us past bucolic farms with buildings painted in bold Caribbean hues, and equally colorful fishing villages mirrored in quiet harbors. All commercial signs are small, uniform and black-and-white, so the view is unsullied.

On the windswept north coast we found what we’d been looking for: the Links at Crowbush Cove. In 1998, when Crowbush began appearing on various course rankings, the provincial government capitalized on the attention and began upgrading government-owned courses and encouraging private development of new ones. As a result of this effort, the island’s standing as a golf destination is now soaring.