Not unusually, Surrey had been suffering from various and numerous anxieties. In the summer of 1954 a vacation from work to the peace offered by the Gaspé region was a welcome relief.
According to Margaret Surrey's "narrative" typed from information given to her by Philip , it was in 1954 that she & Philip rented a car and headed to the Gaspe. First they enjoyed an overnight stay in Port au Persil at a pension where Jean-Paul and Madeleine Lemieux were staying. The four had an evening of conversation after which Margaret and Philip took the ferry across the river. "La Gaspesie was still primitive, no hotels. We stopped at little wood cabins with a stove for heat and cooking. I made about 40 6 x 8s and later four canvases of which we have kept one. At Percé we rented a cabin right above the beach. Margaret cooked and I painted all day.”


In a list Philip compiled in 1988 of 100 important works to include, or at least consider for a book about his career , he notes two paintings of 1955 Gaspé Cabins l & ll , one of which he still owned at that time.