Let Great Oak Manor serve as your home away from home as you enjoy luxurious service and this beautiful property.
A Rich History
Great Oak Manor’s rich history dates back to the first recorded land grant by Lord Baltimore in the 1600’s.
The story of the property began in 1659 when Josiah Fendall, fourth Colonial governor, received the land as a gift from Cecil Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore and first proprietor of Maryland as part of a Colonial land grant that covered some 2,000 acres.
The name Great Oak Manor is believed to refer to a large oak tree that marked one of the corners of the property.
Offering exceptional accommodations and hospitality on the Chesapeake Bay, the 12,000-square foot manor is situated on 15.2 private acres with a Grand Lawn and private beach along Chesapeake Bay in historic Kent Country.
Great Oak Manor is a Neoclassical building designed by Maryland architect Douglas Gorden Braik in 1938 as a private residence for Russell D’Oench, heir to the W. R. Grace & Co. shipping company. Our Georgian-style manor, with 13 fireplaces, was styled after an 18th-century English country retreat and bricks from the ballast of Grace’s sailing ships were reportedly used to build the manor house. In the 1947, ownership transferred to self-made businessman, Frank Russell, who ran his shore home as an exclusive premier club and, at the time illegal, casino, constructing a marina and airstrip on his property to accommodate celebrities such as President John F. Kennedy, American broadcaster & entertainer Arthur Godfrey, writer Ernest Hemmingway and actor Robert Mitchum.
The property went through several changes of ownership beginning in the 1980s. In the late 1990’s Great Oak Manor became a 12-room inn, with a two-story attached Carriage House suite.
Today, this gracious and refined Georgian manor located on an oasis of stately trees, an expansive lawn and ever-changing picturesque bay views is newly owned in 2022 by a husband-and-wife team, Werten Bellamy and Kellye Walker. A renovation of the common areas was completed in 2022, and a full renovation of the guest rooms was completed in Spring 2024.