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his family took root in historic residence by tom greenhough after travelling from england we ar- rived in unionviue in october of 1949 the population sign on meadowbrook lane read420 at the shopping area on no 7 highway then dubbed powersvillc after the developer i went into billingsleys pharmacy and asked mr b the population was still correct l yes it has not changed much since that sign was put up a few years earlier he said we chatted awhile and upon leaving i told him that on the morrow it would be growing to 426 when the children and all the house effects would be arriving the following day the largest packing case we had ever seen was placed by winch onto the 1 front lawn of our new home a home was not easy to find in thosedays with no rentals or highrise flats avail able however our long wait for a home had in one sense been fortunate we had taken possession of one of the oldest handmade brick houses in the dis trict the original farm house in the area it was the old eckardt house in the cul-de- sac along the no 7 called meadowbrook lane the previous tenants told us that the approximate age of thejiouse in 1949 was 127 years making it 161 years old today it had been built by james eckardt whos father was philip eckardt the first settler in our valley and the town planner surveying markham in 1794 it was the first town to be surveyed in upper canada philip was a large man over six feet with a family of 15 children he was a man of varied skills surveyor skilled mecha nic millwright and a firstclass carpen ter he was largely responsible for au gmenting the earlier settlement of united empire loyalists established by count berczy a british government agent in phi ladelphia he recruited some 60 original german families who were living in the genosee valley in the newlycreated united states and arranged for them to be rafted up the don to german mills history seems to show these people were promised land by the first american government of the day but were later denied perhaps as a rcpris- al against george iii of englands use of german mercenaries in their own war of independence in 1776 in the late 1950s our historical under standing of the eckardt family was given a personal dimension we received a visit from miss willa eckardt a great great granddaughter of james eckardt even though nearly 80 years had elapsed since she had lived in our house her memories were still clear the unionviue standard times 15 the eckardt house was one of the first farmhouses in this area yes we had two long bedrooms then one down each side of the house fronting the whole length and back six boys one side six girls the other father and mother slept downstairs where your fireplace is we had our clothes pegs fastened to the main hardwood beams under the caves to hang our clothes at night she was delight ed to see them still there t she stood quietly in a corner of our new bay window thinking aloud reliving the experience of having to stand in that corner as a very little girl for some minor trans gression now forgotten we felt sorry for that child now this little old lady being conscious of standing on historys doorstep with her she remembered the old log cabin that was still standing at the back with the old potbellied german stove for heating well- stoked on wild winter evenings it was used to cook breakfast for the odd traveller who let themselves in with the loose latch string it was a wellknown night stopover for travellers such being the hospitality of the day in 1949 when we arrived in unionviue we never realized the history behind the house we were to call home today we can all share the memories for example a walk to the lutheran unionviue cemctary just north of the village will reveal the grave of philip eckardt if you have the chance take time to pay him homage drive in the country led her to unionviue by joanne heney it was a bright and sunny june saturday we felt like a nice drive in the country and thought wed stop in at one of the nurseries along the way to buy some small trees and shrubs for our agincourt home as we passed the welcome to unionvil- ie sign and approached hwy 7 along ken nedy road we wondered why there were so many cars and people congested into the small area our curiosity won out and we parked the car and decided to investigate what could be bringing so many people here on such a hot summers day walking north along kennedy road something very strange happened sud denly we felt like we had just jumped out of a time machine somewhere in the 18th cen tury where were we the old homes and the quaint little antique shops all reflected an era thatsomehow conjured up long for gotten memories of my grandmothers stories of when she was young but what were all of these people doing here we strolled on past the craft booths dis playing handmade quilts and stuffed anim als sewn in brightly colored polkadot and gm smith ltd has made a major contribution tothe unionviue festival over the years local firm honored this year the unionviue festival committee wishes to honor one of the original sponsors of the unionviue fes- tival early in the history of the festiv al gerry smith and the employees of gm smith supplied trailers and floats for the annual parade 1 their participation grew as the fes tival expanded and mr smith gener ously provided his companys yard to marshal the increasing number of de corated floats every year since 1969 mr smith and his employees have continued to accommodate us as well as augment the parade by entering his own collec tion of antique tractors and trucks which remain on display during the festival days to highlight our appreciation for his participation and assistance the fes tival committee will make a presenta tion honoring his work and that of his employees at 4 pm saturday june 4 at the unionviue post office on main street checkered materials and past ladies sell ing blueberry cheesecakes and bottled pre serves in the distance we could hear a band playing bluegrass and the smell of fresh popcorn and sizzling bacon on a bun floated in the air we couldnt help noticing the happy and friendly faces on the people passing by we turned to see a horse and buggy trot ting down the centre of the road the driver in a black top hat and white shirt nodding to the crowd- a small child giggled gleeful ly at a silly clown passing out fruit candies and hugs as an elderly couple sauntered along arm in arm we spent a lovely afternoon browsing through the shops and booths testing va rious baked goodies and becoming caught- up in this warmly unique place we had just discovered this was our first unionviue festival and the memory is rekindled year after year by this annual event unionviue has been our home for the past five years now but well never forget that special day when we were drawn here by the quaint historical atmosphere of our lovely small town park concerts return this year starting sunday june 19 and con tinuing every sunday throughout the summer there will be a series of con certs held at crosby park in unionviue the concerts wiu take place from 730 to 9 pm weather permitting the sche duled performers for june 19 are mem bers of the markham district high school concert band york piano organ centres northlown shopping centra visit our display in front of the arena during the unionviue festival for a demonstration 5385 yonge street willowdale ontario m2n 5r7 tel 2211499