TRAVEL ADVISORY
All house tours are cancelled until further notice.
Rose Hill Plantation
HOURS
Grounds: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., daily
House tours: Visitors must be on a guided tour to enter the Gist Mansion. Tour times are Mar.-Oct., daily at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. & Nov.-Feb. Thurs. through Mon. at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. Times subject to change; please call the park for further information.
Museum store: 4 to 5 p.m., daily & ten minutes before and after each tour.
ADMISSION
Grounds are free. House tours are $10 for adults; $6 for SC Seniors; $5 for children ages 6-15; children age 5 and under are free.
PETS
Pets are allowed in most outdoor areas provided they are kept under physical restraint or on a leash not longer than six feet.
No Wifi Available
- Introduction
- Photo Gallery
- Things To Do
- Trails
- Picnic Shelters
- Programs & Events
- History & Interpretation
- Groups
- Area Info
- Visitor Survey
GET SOME GEAR!
Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site
Midlands
**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 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, 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 in South Carolina’s upstate, walking the historic landscaped grounds and exploring other original buildings. The site also includes a short hiking trail 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 family during the 1800s
1858
the year William Henry Gist became Governor of South Carolina
100
varieties of heirloom roses are thought to have been found at the aptly named Rose Hill
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
2.5
miles of hiking trails
1960
the year when the South Carolina State Park Service acquired the property
3
house tours daily at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tour times are subject to change.
44
acres – although currently only 44 acres, the plantation once totaled nearly 2000 acres in the 1800s
1
visit that you’ll never forget!
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