06/12/2026
Sagamore Farm. Glyndon, Maryland. 1925. Isaac Emerson, the man behind Bromo-Seltzer, bought the land. His grandson, Alfred G. Vanderbilt II, got it as a 21st birthday gift in 1933 and built it into a thoroughbred operation that produced Bed o' Roses, Discovery, and Native Dancer - the Gray Ghost. Twenty-one wins in twenty-two starts. The only one that got away was the Kentucky Derby, lost by a head; that head was the whole Triple Crown. When Vanderbilt buried him at Sagamore in 1967, he buried him whole: halter, blanket, a bag of treats.
Kevin Plank bought the farm in 2007. By then the buildings had been quiet for more than a decade. Daniel led the restoration team during his years at Blackburn. The interiors were gutted and two barns rebuilt as mirrors of each other: a 20-stall broodmare barn and 16-stall foaling barn.
The owner forfeited the historical tax credits so the horses could thrive in modern naturally ventilated barns. We modernized air circulation by cutting out the overhead haylofts - removing a fire and a respiratory hazard; adding Dutch doors pull air in low; and installing a vented ridge skylight over the length of each barn - allowing air to expel vertically.
What stayed, stayed on purpose. The 5:12 rooflines. The stucco. The red and white racing colors. The original wood was salvaged and became tack-room millwork. A new 24-stall yearling barn went up on the old footprint, in the same language as the rest. Fourteen miles of white fence were laid out to frame the pastures.
Sagamore Farm · Glyndon, MD · Restoration led by Daniel Blair at Blackburn Architects · Photography: Cesar Lujan (.leisurely)
