South Façade

South Façade. . , You are standing in the formal garden facing the south doorway. Although little is known about the plantings, archaeologists have found evidence of well spaced borders in the style of an English design. The south facade departed from the nearly perfect symmetry of the house in the treatment of the ornamental door way frame and pediment which differed from those of the north doorway. There were also no side entrances like those on the north adjacent to each of the pavilions., Both of the south rooms on the first floor were warmed by fireplaces and each was lighted by three windows, two on the south and a third in an alcove formed by the angle of the nearest pavilion. The southwest room, probably planned as a bed chamber, contained a small closet in the southwest corner. According to Governor John Page, his father Mann Page II used the southeast room as his library, though it was probably planned as a parlor., Rosewell reached its most opulent between 1745 and 1765, during the ownership of Mann Page II (ca. 1718-1780). Unlike his father, Mann II was educated in Virginia, attending the College of William and Mary in the 1780s. Although he could have followed the family tradition of public service, holding a seat on the Council of State and other leadership posts in Virginia, he chose not to engage in governance of the colony, deferring a position on the Council to his younger brother John Page of North End, who was trained as a lawyer. Instead, Mann Il concentrated on the Rosewell estate, honoring his father's bequests, paying off the large debt amassed in the construction of the mansion, and completing and furnishing the house as nearly as possible to his father's plan. He initiated the lengthy process of breaking the entail on the estate in order to sell property to satisfy creditors and fulfill the other obligations he had inherited. , He emulated the three previous generations, however, in his display of hospitality to social and political leaders, and he lived well despite the diminishing size and value of his estate In 1748, he married Alice Grymes (1724-1746), the daughter of influential Council of State member John Grymes of Brandon. The couple lived at Rosewell where their son John and daughter Judith were born in the mansion., Two years after Alice's death, Mann II maried Anne Corbin Tayloe of Mt. Airy in 1748, and their seven children were born at Rosewell. Since John Page, the eldest son by his first marriage, would inherit Rosewell Mann II built Mannsfield, a more contemporary but equally grand house near Fredericksburg, to have an appropriate home to leave to Mann Page III, his eldest, son by his second marriage. About 1765, Mann II, Anne, and their children moved to Mannsfield, vacating Rosewell so that John and his wife Frances Burwell (1747-1784), the daughter of another prominent Tidewater family, could reside there., John Page (1744-1808) grew up at Rosewell to become the patriot and statesman who is the best known of the residents of the mansion.He studied law at William and Mary with George Wythe the eminent attorney who later signed the Declaration of Independence. While at the college, he began a friendship with another law student, Thomas Jefferson, whose home, Shadwell, was far away in the Piedmont. Jefferson spent weekends and holidays at Rosewell, an experience that piqued his interest in architecture, the arts, and fine living. In 1772, at age 28, John was appointed to the Council of State and thus entered a life of service to his colony, his state, and his country., About 1765, When John and Frances moved into Rosewell, they found the house in great need of repair, and John undertook the expensive task of renovation in 1771. The young couple considered Rosewell their main home, and though they spent much time in Williamsburg during the War of Independence, their eight children remembered long after his death in 1808.br> (captions) , The south door led into a corridor that connected it with the great hall. Photo by Frank Nivison, Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation., The central path of the formal garden led to the York River, offering a scenic vista from the south windows.