SHARON TEMPLE

Building and plaque north of Highway 9, at 18974 Leslie St. just south of East Gwillimbury Civic Centre

The temple was erected in 1825-31 through the inspiration of Quaker David Willson (1778-1866) who broke with the official Quakers and moved from New York State to Upper Canada in 1801. He founded the Children of Peace in the old village of “Hope” (later Davidtown and finally Sharon). It was a village of a different kind, based on cooperative principles. Willson had been a close reader of Robert Owen’s work on marketing goods in common. Willson’s group believed that music, painting and architecture should be part of education for a peaceful community life.

Ceremonies or “services” were conducted in the Temple with the aid of a group orchestra and choir which occupied a space at the top of the Temple, reached by a Jacob’s Ladder. The Temple was constructed four-square, symbolizing “square dealing with all the world”. A door was located in the centre of each outside wall, with an equal number of huge windows on each side of all the doors to suggest that enlightenment came from every quarter. On the first Friday of September the symbol of light was used in a feast of candles. Samples of their banners, which they paraded through the village, are on display in one of the outbuildings.

While Willson did not believe in resorting to arms, many members of his Children of Peace were fervent supporters of William Lyon Mackenzie and took part in the Rebellion of 1837. Willson had earlier denounced “state-paid priests” and wrote a letter to Mackenzie on the subject which was published in the Colonial Advocate. In one of the outbuildings on the site, an axe fashioned by the local rebel leader and blacksmith Samuel Lount is displayed. David Willson’s sons were arrested during the Rebellion, and some of the carved wooden boxes they made while in jail are also on view.