Birchard Parquette

Birchard Parquette -- at the top of the hill in Mount Albert -- is a tribute to the first European to settle eastern East Gwillimbury.

In 1821, the land was dense forest with only a trail running north and south used by the native Objibway. Brothers Samuel and Rufus Birchard -- Quakers from Vermont -- each purchased 100 acres for a dollar per acre from. The two men plus Rufus’ wife Electra blazed a seven-mile trail easterly through forest and swamp from Hope (now Sharon) to their new property. And, as the story goes, Electra did not see another woman of European descent for two years until Samuel brought home his new bride.

Both families raised many children and, since the Birchards were interested in education, they donated one-quarter acre of land on which to build a school and burial ground. A tiny log schoolhouse was erected here in the early 1830s, and a sister of the Birchard brothers became the teacher.
Although the school was used only for a few years, the land can never be bought or sold. The deed for this site states that the property could be used solely for public purposes “as long as grass grew green and water flowed down hill.” The grounds eventually became a patch of weeds until in 1967 the Mount Albert Horticultural Society and the Women’s Institute transformed it into a lovely parquette, a Centennial project. (Canada was 100 years old in 1967.) The parquette was named after the Birchards who originally donated the land.

The bell mounted on the cairn is a school bell, but it's from another defunct school built down the street in 1890.