Rosewell in Gloucester County, Virginia, preserves the ruins of one of colonial America’s grandest plantation houses, built beginning in 1725 for Mann Page I and completed under his family after his death. Overlooking the York River, the vast brick mansion became the seat of a prominent branch of the Page family and a center of social life from the 18th through 19th centuries. Its scale, materials, and design made it exceptional in colonial architecture. Rosewell also depended on the labor of enslaved people who worked the estate and practiced skilled trades. Altered after its 1837 sale and destroyed by fire in 1916, the ruin has since yielded important archaeological evidence about colonial architecture and daily life.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia · USA