page_title: Belair Mansion (Bowie, Maryland)
section_title: Construction to Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Belair Mansion (Bowie, Maryland) / History / Ogle Era / Construction to Revolution
caption_attribution_description: English: Newspaper Notice advertising the sale of the property of Benjamin Tasker
context_page_description: The Belair Mansion, located in the historic Collington area and in Bowie, Maryland, United States, built in c. 1745, is the Georgian style plantation house of Provincial Governor of Maryland, Samuel Ogle. Later home to another Maryland governor, the mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  Belair is recognized as the only great colonial estate where breeding of race horses was conducted over the course of three centuries. The estate significantly influenced the development of thoroughbred horse racing in the new world, having one of only two stables to raise two Triple Crown champions. The mansion and its nearby stables both serve as museums, operated by the City of Bowie.
context_section_description: In 1740, Ogle was dispatched to England following England's declaration of war against Spain and left Tasker with power of attorney and "the task of supervising the construction of a new house at Belair." In 1747, Ogle returned to Maryland with his new bride to occupy his new home which was "the grandest in the region" visible from much of the surrounding area and "affording its owners a magnificent, all-encompassing view of their plantation." Ogle brought with him, two famous English horses and the first English-bred Thoroughbreds imported into Maryland, Queen Mab and Spark, both gifts of Lord Baltimore, establishing the Belair Stud.
  The Ogle family maintained two residences upon return, one in town at the intersection of King George Street and College Avenue in Annapolis (now referred to as Ogle Hall, which houses the US Naval Academy's Alumni Hall) and Belair, the Governor's country seat.
  Upon his death in 1752, Samuel Ogle left the following to his 3 year old son Benjamin Ogle:
  
  His "house and land in Prince George's County ... together with my stock of whit kind soever and horses (except the English horses and their breed which I desire may be sold) and every implement and utensil to or used on my said plantation".
  Samuel Ogle had also named Tasker to be his son's guardian and manage the estate. At the age of 10, Benjamin Ogle was sent to England for formal education and returned 11 years later in 1770 to find Tasker's daughters and their husbands living in the estate. Ogle sued to have ownership and occupy the mansion. The court ruled in his favor in 1774 and he took possession of the estate.
  Benjamin Ogle became a friend of George Washington whose presidential records show he dined at Belair on October 1, 1773 and that Washington frequently sought Ogle's counsel.
caption: Newspaper advertisement for the sale of Tasker's estate Belle Air
exif: {}