A sturdy metal half-hoop bustle support is securely sewn into the skirt's lining of this wine-colored taffeta ensemble, which includes deep velvet and taffeta pleats along the skirt's hemline, and a short burgundy velvet basque with eight round silk thread-covered buttons.

Elaborate, heavily trimmed bustle and trained wedding dresses from the 1870s and 1880s are tributes to remarkable dressmaking skills.

This dress is associated with Lillian (Boynton) Hale's family, who lived in Jefferson, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts.