Hepburn S. Benson
landholder
Co-patentee, with Stephen Taber, of the 280-acre Worcester County beach tract "The Lady's Resort to the Ocean," patented January 15, 1869. Benson's interest passed to Taber by deed dated October 9, 1871, leaving Taber the sole owner of the strand on which Ocean City was laid out in 1875-76. Nothing else about Benson has been established from primary sources in this pass.
In the record (1)
1869 · 1869-01-15
Maryland patents the 280-acre beach tract "The Lady's Resort to the Ocean" to Stephen Taber and Hepburn S. Benson.
The land Ocean City was later built on entered private hands as a state land patent. Maryland Court of Appeals findings in Mayor of Ocean City v. Taber (1977) recite the patent as issued January 15, 1869 to Stephen Taber and Hepburn S. Benson for 280 acres of ocean beach in Worcester County, recorded in the Hall of Records at Liber W.L. & W.S. No. 2, folios 326-327. Taber bought out Benson's interest by deed of October 9, 1871; in 1876 Taber and his wife conveyed to trustees who sold the resort lots, and in 1878 the trustees conveyed a parcel to the United States for the life-saving station. Some popular histories date the patent to 1867 — recorded here as a conflict, not resolved.
Six years before there was a town, there was a deed — and the name on it was a New Yorker's.
patented 1869 (some accounts say 1867) — sources differ
Source · checked 2026-08-06