This property contains two heritage buildings, one on its original site and one relocated. The frame farmhouse on the Highway 48 frontage of the property is connected to the Byer family homestead, which historically occupied the western halves of Lots 22 and 23, Concession 8. This house, constructed some time in the early to mid-nineteenth century, was a secondary dwelling on the Byer homestead. This property also contains the Byer family cemetery. The other house on the property is a two-storey brick dwelling that was relocated from the Vinegar Hill community in 1997 to preserve it from the impact of the construction of Highway 407. The Chauncy Crosby House was constructed c.1832 on the eastern frontage of Lot 6, Concession 7. Originally from Herkimer County, New York, Crosby arrived in Markham Township in 1812, after crossing Lake Ontario at Kingston with his father William and family. Chauncy Crosby was active in several aspects of the community as Justice of the Peace, farmer, storekeeper and director of the Home District Agricultural Society. The property at Vinegar Hill stayed in the ownership of Crosby descendants until 1939 when it was purchased by the Seaver family. It was the Seaver family who preserved this important historical landmark by moving it to another property in the late 1990s in order to ensure its preservation. |