Charlottetown has long been dubbed 'The Birthplace of Confederation', but few people know how it all began. It was a week of parties, dinner and champagne, cocktails and balls, an atmosphere in which bitter enemies could at least be in the same room as one another. Had the participants not been in such a congenial frame of mind, the resolutions to create Canada might never have found consensus. Prince Edward Island was at its peak in the 1840's; the elegant design of Province House, constructed in 1843, reflected this golden age. Remarkably, it is still functioning as a legislature, and the longest-serving MLA in PEI shares some of the building's secrets.