Sharon Temple/ My World

Sharon Temple in East Gwillimbury, Ontario

This building is among the most important ones in East Gwillimbury, the centre of my everyday world.

Between 1825 and 1831 using simple tools with skillful artistry, a small sect of former Quakers calling themselves the Children of Peace crafted the Sharon Temple. But this in not - and never was - a church. Instead the building was used once a month to collect money and goods for the poor.

The temple’s three tiers represent the Trinity.

After the sect’s charismatic leader, David Willson, died in 1866, the group slowly diminished, holding its last meeting in the temple in 1889. The building fell into disrepair and was nearly torn down. But in 1917, the York Pioneer and Historical Society purchased and restored it. The temple, which celebrated its 175 anniversary in 2007, is now part of a Canadian national historic site and museum. It’s also a National Peace Site and an Ontario Archeological and Historic Site.

Inside the temple at its centre are six pillars, four of which are named Faith, Hope, Love and Charity. And inside the pillars resides an ark that contains a secret compartment not discovered in modern times until 1990. It contained hundred pages of community records.

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