Delmarva Back Roads

Rear and side of Old Drawyers Presbyterian Church north of Odessa Odessa is probably best-known for the historic buildings owned by the Historic Odessa Foundation and called the “Historic Houses of Odessa.” I’ve talked about them in a separate blog post . But there are many other historic treasures in this National Historic District and its outskirts.   Odessa was originally named Cantwell’s Bridge after Richard Cantwell, who began operating a toll bridge over the Appoquinimink River in 1731. Today's bridge over the Appoquinimink River--site of Cantwell's toll bridge Like many other towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway, Odessa was a shipping port. In fact, in 1855 its name was changed from Cantwell's Bridge to Odessa in hopes of becoming another great port like the Russian seaport.   Adding to Odessa’s importance was a “Kings Road” that ran through Odessa from the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware Bay. Odessa's Main Street--part of this King's Road--was th...

Rear of Wilson-Warner House Odessa’s history is similar to those of most other towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway. In the 1700s and 1800s it was a prosperous shipping port (primarily for wheat) on the Appoquinimink River. Then the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and railroads bypassed Odessa and, like many other Delaware towns with water-based economies, Odessa became a sleepy residential community.  Why, then, does Odessa look so different today from other towns along the Byway? Why do the historic buildings in Odessa look stunning while so many of those in other towns along the Byway are either vacant or in desperate need of rehabilitation? The answer is five pieces of luck that other towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway simply didn’t have.  The first piece of luck was the commitment of Daniel Corbit, a son of the man who built what is now Corbit-Sharp House, to preserving his family history and the house’s architecture and furnishings. One of the items he p...