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Rose Hill Plantation

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PARK ADVISORY

The bridge on Sardis Road over the Tyger River is closed and may affect some visitors' travel to the site. Please plan accordingly. 


Space on house tours is limited. Reservations are strongly encouraged. Call 864-427-5966 to reserve a spot.

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HOURS

Grounds: 9 a.m.- 6 p.m., daily

House Tours: Thursday - Monday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Access to the mansion is only available on a guided tour.

Grounds tours available upon request.

Museum Store: Open 10 minutes before and after each tour.

OFFICE

Open 10 minutes before and after each tour.

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ADMISSION

Grounds are free. House tours and grounds tours are $10 for adults; $6 for SC Seniors; $5 for children ages 6-15; children age 5 and under are free.

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PETS

Pets are allowed in most outdoor areas provided they are kept under physical restraint or on a leash not longer than six feet.

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Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site

Midlands

Park Manager

Stephanie Cohen

Park Manager

Hello!  My name is Stephanie Cohen, and I am the park manager of Rose Hill Plantation. I am a proud, "accidental" park ranger, as I had never thought of being a park ranger for a career, until I became a park interpreter.  I will admit, that I am glad I found this career, and I love being a park ranger!

I really enjoy that Rose Hill is so peaceful. It is the only place I have ever seen chipmunks run around freely as birds flutter by. The history of the site is heavy and trauma filled. The contrast of a serene landscape is jarring, but also a remarkable place to reflect and remember. 

If you're a first-time visitor to the park, you should definitely walk the half-mile loop trail, if able. The shaded trail is surrounded by trees, and at many points if you just stop and listen, you will hear nothing but nature. It is easy to imagine what it would been like hundreds of years ago as people walked these grounds.


**Our Ultimate Outsider stamp is located at the park kiosk near the parking area.


Debates swirled around slavery and divided the nation during William Henry Gist’s term as governor of South Carolina (1858-1860). These debates reached a turning point with anti-slavery presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln’s election, causing Governor Gist to declare: “The only alternative left, in my judgment, is the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.”


Today, Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site is a place to learn about important themes and key events in South Carolina’s history: the cotton boom and its collapse, secession and Civil War, slavery and sharecropping, emancipation and the fight for civil rights and Reconstruction and its violent overthrow.


The site provides visitors with opportunities to discover these significant stories through the perspectives of people who lived at Rose Hill, including William Henry Gist and his family, enslaved people, freedpeople and tenant farmers.


Things to do at Rose Hill include touring one of the best preserved plantation homes of the South, walking the historic landscaped grounds and exploring an original brick kitchen. The site also includes short hiking trails through the forest and to the Tyger River.


Programs and special events are held at Rose Hill year-round. Find something that interests you! Don’t miss the other historic plantations South Carolina has to offer!



BY THE NUMBERS

1 historic mansion – home of “Secession Governor” William Henry Gist and his family during the 1800s

1858 the year William Henry Gist became Governor of South Carolina

128 the approximate number of years that Rose Hill was an active cotton plantation, both during and after slavery

4 magnolia trees in the gardens at the front of the mansion and are thought to be nearly 200 years old and won the 2017 South Carolina Heritage Tree Award

1.5 miles of hiking trails

1960 the year when the South Carolina State Park Service acquired the property

5 historic buildings that stand on the site today

44 acres – the historic site protects 44 of the nearly 2000 acres this plantation once totaled

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