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The "Bell of the Ball" at the tender age of 16, Rebecca Burwell graced many grand houses and taverns of Williamsburg and Gloucester. On October 6, 1763, while a student at the College of William & Mary, Thomas Jefferson met Rebecca at a ball in the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. Jefferson fell deeply in love, and wrote about his feelings to his good friend John Page. Page lived at Roswell, less than two mies from Rebecca's home at Rosewell. Jefferson pursued his "fair Belinda" but Rebecca did not return the affection. While Jefferson was out of town in 1764, Rebecca married Jaquelin Ambler, another William & Mary man and prominent Virginia landowner. At her new home Rebecca had the responsibility of overseeing many plantation duties and the social and political ties that came with this union. We can only speculate about her role in Ambler's growing wealth and political appointments, but the legacy of strong and influential Burwell women continued.
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Thomas Jefferson in the late eighteenth century.
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Rebecca may have worn a dress similar to this ball gown when encountering Thomas Jefferson and Jaquelin Ambler at the Apollo Room in Raleigh Tavern.
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Ornate cast buckles were often associated with the formal wear of both ladies and gentlemen during the mid-to-late eighteenth century.