The Oaks Hospitality Group, the boutique lodging company led by CEO Sharon Jackson Wilder and her husband, co-founder, COO and executive chef B. Quinton Wilder, has acquired Baltimore’s historic 1840s Plaza. The company says the purchase makes it Maryland’s largest Black-owned event venue.

The property, now operating as The Oaks Inn Baltimore at 1840s Plaza, sits in the Jonestown neighborhood near the Inner Harbor. It includes a 13-suite boutique inn, a commercial kitchen, about 40,000 square feet of event space, and a courtyard that can host up to 1,200 guests, The Washington Informer reports.

The deal closed in October 2026, according to BuyBlack.org, which reports the sellers were entities connected to Ronald and Anne Pomykala. The final price was not disclosed. The complex was listed for $5.49 million in May 2024, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

A Promise Made on Cape Cod

The Wilders met as students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. On a late-1980s trip to Cape Cod, they said they would one day own a bed-and-breakfast. Sharon was 19.

They then lived separate lives for 27 years. Sharon, a D.C. native raised in Montgomery County, attended Georgetown University Law Center, while Quinton stayed in Boston. When they reconnected, he asked whether she still wanted to open an inn. Three weeks later, he moved to D.C.

“It was a dream that was only possible with him,” Sharon told The Washington Informer.

The couple opened The Oaks in Bethesda, a seven-room bed-and-breakfast, on December 1, 2020. The Oaks Annapolis followed on December 1, 2023. The company grew mainly on savings and business revenue and now owns and manages five Maryland properties.

An SBA Loan and 22 Jobs

The Baltimore purchase is the company’s first acquisition financed with a U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loan. “Five years ago, I would never have gotten this loan,” Sharon said.

The Oaks had five employees before the deal. It hired 22 of the plaza’s former employees and plans to add more, and the venue is booked through 2028. The buildings are also Baltimore city landmarks, tied to the neighboring Carroll Mansion, the last home of Declaration of Independence signer Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

For now, the company is eyeing future venues in Deep Creek, the Eastern Shore, Ocean City, and St. Michaels.

Photo Credit: Facebook/Sharon Jackson Quinton Wilder