17th C Appoquinimink, 18th C Cantwell's Bridge, 19th C Odessa

Appoquinimink was named for the Appoquinimink River; it became Cantwell's Corners; in the 19th C, as Cantwell's Corners's economy declined, was re-branded / re-named Odessa, after the great Ukraine grain growing, grain market, grain distribution center that provided for so much of Europe.  (This didn't help.)
This, perhaps the smallest Quaker meeting house in the U.S., the Appoquinimink Friends Meeting House (1785) Odessa, Delaware -- was a stop on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Line. Runaway slaves would hide in the Meeting House loft.
This Meeting House is still in use, with a meeting every second Tuesday. Typical of the Quakers, my guide K O'D, says, is how well kept up everything is. The gates and paling fences in the brick had just been repainted. The cemeteries had just been re-mowed.

Most of the buildings that make up the Historic Preservation district of Odessa, Delaware, were put up when it was still called Cantwell's Bridge (on the Appoquinimink River), growing up around a tavern, that currently is not open as it is being re-fitted to be an historic foods restaurant. From what I was told by the staff it sounds as though this will be worth visiting all on its own, in order to eat. I felt as though I knew what I needed to know about the Cantwell Tavern though, from my time at the Fraunces Tavern Museum.



Collins-Sharp House (1700): One of Delaware’s oldest residences. It is two separate log and frame houses, joined, one older than the other, a common practice in the Delmarva region up to the Civil War. This is the color it was painted, according to the professionals who determine such things, many of them at the University of Delaware.

Garden for the Collins-Sharp House: The cold frames are out of period, according to the historic gardeners. Glass was too rare and expensive in the 17th c - early 18th c to use this way.  There are hanging bee hives on the porch columns from where the photo was shot. There are traditional standing 'hive' hives scattered about also, made of plaited straw.