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Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia, was for more than 100 years the home of a branch of the Page family, one of the First Families of Virginia. Begun in 1725, the Flemish bond brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River was one of the most elaborate homes in the American colonies. In ''Mansions of America'', the architectural historian Thomas Tileston Waterman described the plantation house as "the largest and finest of American houses of the colonial period." Through much of the 18th century and 19th centuries, and during the American Civil War, Rosewell plantation hosted the area's most elaborate formal balls and celebrations. The home burned in 1916. ==History== The building of Rosewell was begun in 1725 by Mann Page I (1691–1730). In 1718 he had married Judith Carter, the daughter of Robert "King" Carter. Educated at Eton College and Oxford University in England, Mann Page was appointed to the Governor's Council of the Virginia Colony shortly after his return to Virginia. He embarked on construction of Rosewell in 1725, but died five years later before construction was completed. It was Page's intention to build a home that would rival or exceed the newly completed Governor's Palace in Williamsburg in size and luxury. When Page died five years into construction on the home, the property passed to his wife Judith. The primary construction materials were brick, marble and mahogany, some of which was imported from England. Architectural historians believe that the house, double the size of the Governor's Palace, may have been designed by Mann Page himself. Larger than any home built in colonial Virginia, Rosewell probably owed its design to the London townhouses built to the stricter codes following the Great Fire of London. Their son Mann Page II saw the unfinished mansion through to completion after the elder Page's early death.〔(''Notes on often-cited persons, places, and things in Robert Carter's Diary and Letters,'' Edmund Berkeley Jr., virginia.edu )〕 By then the Page family was strapped for cash due to the cost of building the great house, and Page II ultimately sold off a significant portion of his vast land holdings to fund its completion. Like many plantations in the South, Rosewell fell into disrepair following the Civil War. The rooftop cupolas were removed from the dilapidated mansion and its lead roof was stripped off and sold, as was much of its fine interior woodwork. The Rosewell Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1916. Today, the remains of the house is a largely undisturbed historic ruin. The site has been the subject of archaeological work which has revealed many artifacts and shed light on some aspects of colonial life and architecture previously unclear. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rosewell (plantation)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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