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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.

From the Collection

Punch cup (one of a set of five)

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Martin and Joan Mason
1950-1980
In 1845, a fugitive slave from Maryland named Sam approached the Corbit home begging for refuge. Sam was hidden by Mary Corbit behind a tiny door in the attic of what is now referenced as the Corbit-Sharp house. There, the runaway was given food and a warm quilt.