The Mathias Sharp House is a historic residence in the city of Rockport in the southwestern part of the

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. Built in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, it was the center of a prominent murder trial not long after its construction, and it has been designated a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

History

Mathias Sharp was one of Spencer County's leading early residents. At an uncertain time after the end of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, Sharp moved from his native

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to the vicinity of present-day Rockport, where he purchased wide lands along the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. Here, he became a prosperous farmer, ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs and a prominent citizen of the county.
History of Warrick, Spencer, and Perry Counties
'.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

: Goodspeed Bros, 1885. By the mid-1850s, he had established himself firmly enough to be able to participate in the creation of a local high school, buying 2 of the original 176

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

of stock in a company formed to establish the school. Sharp's wife Mary died in 1854, and he remarried slightly less than two years later to a much younger woman, Catherine Shumaker. After about a decade of marriage, the couple had the present house constructed; according to family legend, he built it for her, despite the long gap between their marriage and its construction. Mathias did not long enjoy the new property; just two years after the house was built, he died of apparent poisoning. Just one year later, Catherine married a local merchant, who in turn died in early 1871, less than a year after their marriage. Poison was again suspected, and Catherine was quickly arrested and charged with the murder of her two husbands as well as that of Mary Sharp. The press likened her to

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (; ca-valencia, Lucrècia Borja, links=no ; 18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was a Spanish-Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the Govern ...

,"A Modern Lucretia Borgia - Who Is Accused of Poisoning Two Husbands, and the First Wife of Her First Husband." '' Freeport Journal-Standard'', 1872-02-28, 7. and a widely publicized trial resulted; it was more sensational than all other contemporary trials in the region, despite being moved to the courthouse at Cannelton in

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at Catherine's request. Unable to pay for her defense, she gained the help of German-born Rockport businessman John Eigenmann. After she was acquitted of murder, he took possession of the house in exchange for his aid, and his family owned the property until 1913. In that year, it was purchased by Francis Posey, whose family owned it into the late twentieth century.

Architecture

The Sharp House is a brick building constructed in the plan of a cross; except for the western (rear) arm, it is a two-

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

structure. The primary entrance is through a door on the western arm; it is accessed by means of a decorated porch and flanked by a

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

and

sidelight A sidelight or sidelite in a building is a window, usually with a vertical emphasis, that flanks a door or a larger window. Sidelights are narrow, usually stationary and found immediately adjacent doorways.Barr, Peter.Illustrated Glossary, 19th ...

s. Numerous windows pierce the walls of the western wing. Despite the westward orientation of the main entrance, the house primarily looks to the east, due to its location atop a bluff on the western bank of the Ohio River. Massive elements, such as a

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

and a large

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, contribute to the elaborate appearance of the eastern facade. Other elements present on various sides of the house include decorative porches, stone windowsills, a detailed

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

, and

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

s above many windows. The interior features a grand entrance with a walnut stairway, a cathedral ceiling, eight fireplaces with iron or wooden mantels, oak

fretwork Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, coping saw, jigsaw or scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly used ...

, and extensive use of poplar.

Preservation

Despite its construction in the third quarter of the nineteenth century, the Mathias Sharp House was preserved unusually well by its owners into its second century. Its

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style and its location atop a river bluff have made it one of the city's leading buildings. In 1983, the house was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, qualifying because of its historically important architecture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Mathias, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Italianate architecture in Indiana Houses completed in 1867 Houses in Spencer County, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Spencer County, Indiana