On April 12,1996, Rose Hill Plantation House was purchased by the Middleton White Foundation and has been restored as a private home. The house in now shared with the public each day via guided history tours and is also available for special events. Our professional staff is highly experienced and eager to make your visit a memorable one - whatever the occasion for your visit with us.
The historic Rose Hill Mansion, known as the most beautiful plantation house in the Lowcountry, has long held a treasured place in Southern history. Originally built in the late 1850s by planter and physician, Dr. John Kirk and his wife Caroline, the plantation was a wedding present from Caroline's father, James Kirk.
Work was halted by the Civil War, and while occupied through the years, the interior was not completed until 1946, when new owners John and Betsy Gould Sturgeon finished it in grand style. In 1980, the Welton family purchased the land and the house was later listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987, a fire devastated the house & it sat in a state of ruin until purchased and restored by The Middleton White Foundation. After a decade long restoration, the home is now shared with the public each day, via guided history tours.
The grand entry’s original open stringer spiral staircase is period grandeur. See the portrait of James Brown Kirk ( original founder of Bluffton ) & Dr. John Kirk, painted by granddaughter Emily, at the request of her mother, Caroline. The Kirk family returned these portraits, as well as other family heirlooms & original documents when the home was opened for tours in 2007.
At the end of each hour long tour, conducted by either the proprietor or a Kirk family descendant, refreshments are served in the mansion's dining room.
The Rose Hill Mansion is also available for weddings & corporate event rentals, as well as private scheduled group tours & luncheons. The carriage house, connected to the mansion, can additionally be rented nightly or by the week.
