Chandler Wedding Dress Fragment
Piece of Wedding Dress, circa 1620
Fabric, board, and paper
Gift of Parker Chandler, 1949.002.004
This faded dress fragment is said to have come to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620 as a wedding dress. It came to the Chandler family via Sarah Bradley Allen who lived in Duxbury before moving to Kansas City, MO.
It is interesting to note that there is no other provenance for this piece of fabric, in fact the family that preserved it for so many generations had long since forgotten whose dress it was. What mattered was the connection it had to the Mayflower.
For another example of a saved wedding dress fragment, view the piece from the Massachusetts Historical Society’s Priscilla Mullins Alden dress here: https://www.masshist.org/february-fashion.
Digging Duxbury
The quest for archaeological evidence of the Pilgrim past began with an 1833 dig, one of the earliest in U.S. history.
Coming to a Pilgrim Town
Coming to a Pilgrim Town
Duxbury’s Pilgrim history, combined with the town’s natural beauty, initiated a tourist boom.
Collecting in a Pilgrim Town
Collecting in a Pilgrim Town
The tourism boom brought another enterprise, the creation and sale of Pilgrim-themed souvenirs.
Lasting Legacy
Duxbury's Lasting Legacy
Duxbury never forgot its Pilgrim origins. How could it? The names continue to generate interest today.
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