Lucy’s Wedding Dress

Silk and lace, New York, 1844 with later alterations.

When Lucy Maria Tappan married Henry Chandler Bowen in June 1844, she wore this simple, yet elegant dress. Since then it’s been slightly altered for successive generations of Bowen women. Indeed two of the couple’s great great granddaughters wore the dress at their own weddings in the 1950s.  They donated it to Historic New England in 2000.