51st Annual Delaware Show

HISTORIC ODESSA FOUNDATION The Historic Odessa Foundation, formed in 2005, now owns and administers all of the Odessa properties: the Corbit-Sharp and Wilson-Warner houses; Corbit’s 1780 Pump House, built for tannery employees; Cantwell’s Tavern (ca. 1822); the Odessa Bank (ca. 1855); and the gambrel-roof Collins-Sharp House (ca. 1700), which Rodney Sharp had moved to its present site behind the tavern to preserve it. In addition to Sharp’s preservation leadership, Sharp, Corbit, and Wilson family members and descendants of other local families have donated items of all kinds. Accordingly, room installations in the Corbit and Wilson houses represent area- made and owned furnishings in addition to those that never left the premises. These objects, passed down through generations, convey an intimate and accurate sense of life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, giving visitors to Odessa an extraordinary historical experience. at Cantwell’s Bridge,” displays particular accomplishment in its materials and construction, including a detail heretofore only associated with eastern Massachusetts chests: the top slides onto half-dovetail-shape tongues cut along the tops of the side boards rather than being attached with glue blocks and/or screws. Furniture historians might opine that Janvier had seen and copied Massachusetts examples, perhaps loaded as venture cargo on vessels that stopped inOdessa, but Janvier was exceptionally talented and creative. Sufficient innovation exists in his case furniture to support his authorship of this feature. Other family-owned objects at Odessa include samplers worked by Daniel Corbit’s two nieces in 1823 and a mourning brooch containing locks of hair from their mother and/or father that is featured in mid-19th-century oil portraits of each woman. Also surviving are David Wilson’s Bible box, letter box, and snuff box shaped and painted to represent a Dalmatian, along with a large needlework mourning picture made by Ann Jefferis, who married David’s son and namesake. John Janvier Sr., chest of drawers, mahogany, 1775–1800. Historic Odessa Foundation — 18 —