B. Carroll and Mae S. Tharp Endowed Scholarship

B. Carroll and Mae Tharp spent several decades collecting and caring for a group of five history Texas log cabins on their property in Montgomery County affectionately referred to as Fernland. Carroll was a trained preservation architect, and a board member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation while Mae was a talented botanist. Together they were a dynamic team and lovingly cared for the Fernland property and the cabins they had saved. One would be hard-pressed, upon visiting Fernland, to not see the love and devotion that the Tharps had for each other, and the passion they had for Texas history, Fernland, and their cabins. In 2001, the Tharps donated Fernland to Sam Houston State University with the caveat that if the property were ever sold, proceeds would go towards supporting educational purposes to the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and Presidential Library. In honoring the wishes of the Tharp family, a portion of the proceeds has been set aside to provide two scholarships to worthy students each year in the Tharp’s honor.