The Grounds & Gardens | Historic Odessa Foundation

The grounds of the Historic Odessa Foundation encompass approximately 72 acres of property in the historic center of town.

The site comprises a complex of three historic house museums, a pump house where the HOF Archeology Center is located, a bank repurposed as a visitor’s center, and a tavern that collectively span two centuries of Delaware architecture and history.

Historic Gardens

The Corbit-Sharp House Colonial Revival Garden was designed by H. Rodney Sharp with the assistance of the well-known landscape architect, Marian Cruger Coffin.

The garden at the Collins-Sharp House is planted with heirloom plants typically used in the 18th century for culinary, medicinal and decorative use.

The outdoor components of the property, including the architecture and picturesque Colonial Revival Garden as well as a one-mile walking trail are available for exploration free of charge, from dawn until dusk.

Guided tours, which last approximately 90 minutes, will grant visitors access to the interiors of the historic buildings and a window to a vast collection that samples the material culture of the Mid-Atlantic region since colonial times.

Collins-Sharp Kitchen Garden

The Collins-Sharp House kitchen garden offers guests a chance to explore a working kitchen garden and to taste and smell the fragrances of individual plants. At the inside hearth, you can learn how these plants were used in 18th century cooking or in the production of medicines.

Gardens were an essential part of daily life in Odessa in the 18th century. Critical for the survival of some families and necessary for providing touches of luxury for others, the maintenance of kitchen gardens was largely the responsibility of colonial women.

Those entrusted with the care of a kitchen garden had to

Corbit-Sharp House Grounds in Historic Odessa

Corbit-Sharp House’s Colonial Revival Garden

When H. Rodney Sharp restored the Corbit-Sharp House in 1938, he established a Colonial Revival Garden in the rear with the assistance of well-known landscape architect, Marian Cruger Coffin, one of the first American women landscape architects and one of the first women to study architecture at MIT.

The layout includes all the hallmarks of a Colonial Revival Garden, including a formal, symmetrical design, straight brick walks, boxwood hedges, and a romantic structure, notably a delightful octagonal stone building.

Wilson-Warner House Barn

Behind the Wilson-Warner and Corbit-Sharp Houses is the Wilson Barn, often referred to as the stable. It was constructed of imported stone in 1812 at a time when brick or wooden buildings were the rule as little natural stone could be found in central and southern Delaware. An engraved stone under the stable eave speaks to the durability of the structure from its first 65 years to the present: "Built 1812, Rebuilt 1877."

Explore Our Property

From the Collection

Sack-back Windsor armchair

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

1765-1795

Pineapple Gate Post Caps

Colonial Revival style garden pineapple gate ornament at the entry of the Corbit-Sharp House. The pineapple is historically the symbol of hospitality. It became a highly popular finial design in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.