Corbit Sharp House

The Corbit-Sharp House began as an ambitious home in a small Delaware town. William Corbit, a Quaker tanner and merchant, started building it in 1772, when he was twenty-seven. Completed around 1774, the twenty-two-room house announced the standing he had achieved through trade. Its Philadelphia-Georgian design drew on the architectural world of the nearby port cities, while its scale made it a landmark in Odessa.

Corbit’s livelihood linked the household to the region’s economy. A tannery on Appoquinimink Creek processed hides into leather, a material used for shoes, harnesses, and many everyday goods. The house’s surviving records help make the domestic story unusually specific: an 1818 inventory lists furnishings room by room, while building accounts identify work and costs. The rooms can therefore be interpreted through documents created by the family, not only through later guesswork.