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 Virginia, 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 Construction of Rosewell was begun in 1725 by Mann Page I (1691–1730), son of Matthew Page and Mary Mann and grandson of planter Colonel John Page of Jamestown and Middle Plantation. Page was educated in England at Eton College and Oxford University. Shortly after his return to North America, Page was appointed to the Governor's Council of the Virginia Colony. He married about 1712. His first wife died in 1716 from complications following the birth of their third child, son Mann Page, who also died. In 1718 Page had married Judith Carter (1695–1750), a daughter of Robert "King" Carter and his first wife Judith Armistead. They had five children together, including a son named Mann Page II (1718-1778) and an infant that died in 1728, at birth. Page had intended to build a mansion to rival or exceed in size and luxury the newly completed Governor's Palace in Williamsburg. After he died in 1730, his widow Judith Page inherited the property. 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 residence 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 (1718-1778) supervised completion of the mansion after reaching manhood. 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. Page descendants continued to hold and occupy Rosewell for 100 years. In 1837 the