Rose Hill Plantation House, Gothic Revival plantation house in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Rose Hill Plantation House is a two-story frame building on the Colleton River in Bluffton, built in Carpenter Gothic style with a brick foundation, vertical board-and-batten siding, and a steep gable roof. Its cruciform plan centers on an oval stair hall with an elliptical dome and a chandelier hanging from the apex. The south facade has a first-story porch and a second-story porch room, and fourteen-foot Gothic double windows and doors remain intact.
Construction started in 1858 for Dr. John Kirk and his wife Caroline but halted when the Civil War broke out. Work resumed years later after World War II and was finally completed.
The name Rose Hill comes from the Kirk family's plantation, where enslaved people grew rice, cotton and indigo and harvested salt from the brackish creeks. After the Civil War the house stood abandoned for long periods, with tenant farmers living in it during some years. Today the Middleton White Foundation uses it for weddings, gatherings and overnight stays.
The house stands on US 278 in Bluffton, within the gated Rose Hill Plantation community of about 950 home sites, and is privately owned by the Middleton White Foundation. It is not open for guided tours; the property is used for events, gatherings, weddings and overnight stays, so visits should be arranged in advance with the owner.
Union soldiers carved messages into a mirror hanging in the entrance hall during the Civil War. Those scratched words remain visible today, providing a direct link to the people who passed through during wartime.
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