For years, Sharon Jackson Wilder searched Maryland for a Black-owned event venue large enough to hold the galas and fundraisers her organization hosts. She concluded that none existed. Now she owns one.
The Oaks Hospitality Group, which Wilder leads as CEO with her husband, co-founder, chief operating officer and executive chef B. Quinton Wilder, has acquired Baltimore’s 1840s Plaza. Now operating as The Oaks in Baltimore at 1840s Plaza, the property includes a 13-suite boutique inn, a commercial kitchen and about 40,000 square feet of event space and expansive courtyard that can host up to 1,200 guests. According to the company, that size makes it Maryland’s largest Black-owned event venue.
The buildings bring a history of their own. In 2001, Baltimore added them to its list of city landmarks as an expansion of the landmark designation for the neighboring Carroll Mansion, the last home of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
A plan kept in a trunk
The story of The Oaks starts at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where Sharon and Quinton met as students. On a trip to Cape Cod in the late 1980s, they stayed at a bed-and-breakfast and told each other that one day they would like to own one. Sharon was 19.
Then their paths split. A D.C. native, raised in Montgomery County, Sharon came home to attend Georgetown University Law Center, staying in the DMV after earning her degree. Quinton remained in Boston. They built separate lives for 27 years, and the idea of owning an inn together faded.
“It was a dream that was only possible with him,” Sharon said.
When they found each other again, they returned to one of the Cape inns they had loved. Quinton asked whether she still wanted to open one. “That would be awesome!” she replied, and the two held an impromptu business meeting on the beach at Martha’s Vineyard.
Back in Maryland, Sharon went to her parents’ basement in Potomac and opened the trunk she had taken with her to college. Inside were the letters she and Quinton had exchanged as students, including a draft business plan for a bed-and-breakfast. Three weeks later, Quinton made plans to move to D.C.
Sharon came by her ambition early. Her mother owned The Foxes Den in Silver Spring, which Sharon describes as the first Black-owned beauty shop in Montgomery County, and Sharon started working there at about age 12. “I said to myself, ‘One day I too will have a business in the County,’” she said.
Growing one property at a time
The Wilders opened The Oaks, a seven-room bed-and-breakfast in Bethesda, on December 1, 2020. Sharon’s mother, an interior designer, designed the rooms. The couple lived on Laurel-Oak Drive, which gave the business its name, and they named each room for an oak-barreled wine.
Three years to the day later, on December 1, 2023, they opened The Oaks Annapolis in the former Blue Heron Inn. It is the only Black-owned bed-and-breakfast in Maryland’s capital.
After Annapolis, the Wilders opened a retreat cottage in Cabin John. They paid for that growth largely with savings and business revenue. Sharon describes the method in three steps: save, acquire an asset, and start saving again.
That record is what made the Baltimore acquisition possible. The 1840s Plaza deal marks the company’s first purchase financed with a loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“Five years ago, I would never have gotten this loan,” Sharon said. “There’s no such thing as ‘just go get an SBA loan.’ There is preparation. There is equity-injection verification. There is making sure your taxes have been right.”
The venue Maryland was missing
The search for a large venue took years and ran into a barrier many Black business owners know well: access to land. In Montgomery County, Sharon found that long-established owners hold much of the commercial property and often sell it privately. The Wilders pursued sites such as the vacant Sears building in White Oak without success. In 2023, County Executive Marc Elrich appointed Sharon to the county’s Permitting Services Advisory Board, a role she accepted in part to help other Black-owned businesses navigate zoning and land use rules.
Her motivation was fueled by her community. The Wilders belong to groups such as the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., The Links, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and the Bachelor-Benedict Club which host large fundraisers throughout the year, and Sharon observed that these organizations in Maryland spend millions of dollars annually on events.
The Baltimore property gives them a new option, and it expands the size of the company overnight. The Oaks employed five people before the purchase. It has hired an additional 22 of the plaza’s former employees and plans to add three to five more. The venue has bookings through 2028.
Recognition along the way
In 2025, the inaugural Black in Business Awards named Sharon Jackson Wilder and The Oaks its Best Hospitality honoree, recognizing innovation and excellence in the hospitality industry. The second annual Awards show will be held on November 19, 2026 at the Doubletree by Hilton DC North/Gaithersburg in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Tickets are on sale now.
A year later, Sharon and Quinton have not only completed the largest transaction in the company’s history, but the company’s growth reaches beyond real estate. The Oaks also launched Spacii this year, a curated venue discovery and booking platform for listing and finding event spaces in the DMV: Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. And their long-term plan calls for more hospitality venues, sited in markets like Deep Creek, the Eastern Shore, Ocean City, and St. Michaels.
Sharon credits the people around her with bringing the company this far. “This is not the Sharon show,” she said. “If I had no one working with me, there would be none of it.”
The plan the Wilders drafted in college called for one small inn. It now includes a landmark campus property in the heart of Baltimore, with a boutique hotel and an event venue for 1,200 guests. What’s next for The Oaks Hospitality Group? Only time will tell.
