On a warm evening in October, curious guests gathered at the Mathias Sharp House in Rockport, Indiana, to roam the property on the bluff and soak in panoramic views of the Ohio River. Molly Marsh had opened her private home to the public as a fundraiser hosted by Indiana Landmarks, with proceeds going to the Association for a Better Rockport and earmarked for historic preservation.
“The folks in Rockport are excited about their historic district,” says Stephanie Richard, Indiana Landmarks’ Southwest Field Office Director. “It’s been great to work with them, to be surrounded by all this energy and excitement. They love their community, and they’re making things happen.”
The Mathias Sharp House is only one of several historic residences with stories to tell that sit above the city’s Rocky Side Park. Marsh and some of her neighbors shared those narratives with Evansville Living.
Mathias Sharp House
Marsh has owned the Mathias Sharp House on Second Street since 1989. The Italianate-style brick residence has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. “It was the first house in the county designed by an architect,” Marsh says, adding that their name remains unknown. “One of the main features is that the front of the house faces the river. That was unusual for the time.”
Sharp had the house built in 1867 for his second wife, Catherine, about a decade into their marriage. Though Sharp was a prosperous farmer and prominent citizen, Catherine achieved greater notoriety after Sharp died inside the home, and Catherine’s second husband, Samuel Batchelor, later passed away from similar causes.
“There was a lot of controversy in the town because there was one faction that said, ‘Oh, this beautiful woman, there’s no way she could have done this.’ And then there was another faction, friends of Batchelor’s, especially freemasons, who wanted to have her put away,” Marsh says.
Catherine was tried for and acquitted of the deaths, but because of her connection to the house, some people believe it is haunted.
“[The previous owners] saw a woman in a white dress on the stairs. I’ve had work people who say that they don’t want to come anymore because they have seen things or felt things. So who knows?” Marsh says. “Just depends if you believe it or not. I’m afraid I don’t have that gift.”
Hardy-Baumgaertner House
The Hardy-Baumgaertner House, owned by Donna Ayer since 1980, also sits on the bluff on Walnut Street. The Queen Anne, wood-constructed home received its National Register distinction in 2019.
“When we got in here and saw the woodwork, the parquet floor, stained glass, I said, ‘We’ve got to try and save this,’” Ayer says. “[My husband] just wanted to be up here on the river. He didn’t think the house would be fit to save.”
Ayer reports that the home was built in two stages. Sometime before 1879, Thomas Hardy, a businessman who became a bank president, built a small frame house on the property. In 1890, John Baumgaertner bought the home and expanded the structure into its Victorian style by 1895. Baumgaertner “was a Swiss immigrant, and he had originally been in Tell City. Then he moved to Rockport, and he operated the Veranda Hotel Downtown, which was the first place in Spencer County that had a telephone,” Ayer says.
It took more than a year to renovate the house 45 years ago, which verified the different phases of the private home’s development. “The contractors that redid the house for us said, in the center of the house, all the wooden laths on the wall were done by hand with square nails. The two ends were milled with round nails. So, that indicates two different time periods,” Ayer says.
The Stauffer House
Across Walnut sits a Gothic brick home. Owner Karen Stauffer says her predecessor, Ruth Seydel, renovated the home before Stauffer and her husband bought the property about five years ago.
“She was the woman with the vision to save it. It was going to deteriorate. She did all these beautiful renovations that you see, keeping with the feeling of the house, the history of the house. But she modernized it so we have all the best conveniences,” Stauffer says.
The house was built in 1861 for Civil War Capt. Samuel Laird and his wife, Irena. Laird sold goods on a storeboat along the Ohio River until the vessel was damaged by ice, and then he set up shop in Rockport. He later worked as a brickmaker and flatboat operator and served as county auditor.
The Stauffers own not only the house on the bluff but also the cave below in Rocky Side Park. The dwelling was the home of Rockport’s first residents, the James Lankford family. The park also features historical markers regarding Abraham Lincoln’s first flatboat trip to New Orleans in 1828 and the tavern he visited after a political speech at the courthouse in 1844.
Stauffer’s home is not on the National Register, but she’s contemplating pursuing the recognition.
“It is all done at the owner’s expense. That’s something to consider if you’re thinking about having your house registered,” she says. “But we would like to do it to learn more about the house and to preserve its history.”
MAKE THE DRIVE
The 32-mile trek from Evansville to this Spencer County town connects State Route 66 with the Ohio River Scenic Byway, a 300-mile-plus route displaying Southern Indiana’s natural beauty from Mount Vernon to Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
