Sharon (formerly Hope) is a former village now incorporated into the municipality of the Town of

East Gwillimbury East Gwillimbury is a town (lower-tier municipality) on the East Holland River in the upper-tier municipality the Regional Municipality of York. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area of southern Ontario, in Canada. It was formed by the amalgam ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, formerly the Township of East Gwillimbury. The municipal offices of the town are in Sharon. The community's most historic building is the

Sharon Temple The Sharon Temple is an open-air museum site, located in the village of Sharon, Ontario, Sharon, Ontario, that was in 1990 designated as a National Historic Sites of Canada, National Historic Site of Canada. It is composed of eight distinctive ...

, once the meeting house of the

Children of Peace Children of Peace is a United Kingdom, British-based, non-partisan Charitable organization, charity that focuses upon building friendship, trust and reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian people, Palestinian children, aged 4–17, reg ...

(or Davidites). It is part of the musical, political, religious and architectural heritage of Ontario and is now a museum and

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

. The museum hosts a number of concerts and educational programs, and has hosted the Words Alive Literary Festival since 2007. In the mid to late 1980s, housing developments were built in the area around Sharon. Further developments have continued slowly around Sharon since 2002.

History

The village of Sharon grew around the farm of David Willson (Lot 10, Second Conc.), the leader of the Quaker denomination known as the

. The Children of Peace constructed a series of meeting houses on Willson's farm, which became the core of the utopian community they called Hope. They changed the name to Sharon in 1841 (after the Sharon Temple) to acquire a post office.

Transportation

Sharon has bus service by

York Region Transit York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road. YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bus ...

(Route 50 Queensway), as well as commuter train service from

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...

through East Gwillimbury Station in the southwestern corner of Sharon. The area is served by

Highway 404 The following highways are numbered 404: Australia - Victoria Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 404 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 404 * Ontario Highway 404 Costa Rica * National Route 404 Israel * Route 404 (Israel) Japan * Japan N ...

which is accessed via the Green Lane interchange. Before 2001, the nearest interchange was a couple of kilometres south at Davis Drive in Newmarket. Plans exist to extend the highway through East Gwillimbury and further north have been completed with highway now terminating at Woodbine Avenue in Ravenshoe, Ontario.

Surrounding communities

Queensville Queensville is a village within the Town of East Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada. History Originally named ''Four Corners'' and ''Hackett's Corners'' (after William Hackett owner of a general store), it was renamed as ''Queensville'' in 1843 to ho ...

, north * Mount Albert, east * Newmarket south *

Holland Landing Holland Landing is a community in the town of East Gwillimbury, located in the northern part of the Regional Municipality of York, in south-central Ontario, Canada. Its major road is Yonge Street (bypassed by the former Highway 11) and the commun ...

, west

External links

Town of East Gwillimbury
{{authority control Communities in the Regional Municipality of York East Gwillimbury

History

Transportation

Surrounding communities

See also

External links