The house at 199 Rose Hill Way has a steep roof, vertical board-and-batten siding, clustered piers and windows that look like they belong on a chapel. The National Register nomination for the house singles out those same details. Inside, a domed central stair hall rises through the middle of the house. Plenty of people in Bluffton know the outside of the house well. Far fewer have been inside, because for most of its history it has been someone's private home or a private venue.
This fall that is changing in a small, scheduled way. The house is now run as Kirks Mansion by The May River Collection, and from Nov. 1 through mid-December its owners are selling individual tickets to teas, a chef's dinner, workshops, a candlelight concert and a holiday party. This season, a ticket is the most reliable way onto the grounds of one of Bluffton's best-known landmarks.
A house that has changed hands more often than it has opened its doors
Dr. John Kirk started building the house for his family around 1858 to 1860. The Kirks moved to Grahamville during the Civil War before it was finished. That account comes from the National Register documentation, as quoted by the Island Packet. The venue's own history page gives 1858 as the completion year, but its timeline also says the house stayed unfinished and largely empty through the late 1800s.
The plantation was built on forced labor. The venue's history page says nearly 180 enslaved people lived there in 1860, and that after emancipation many of their families stayed nearby and kept shaping the Bluffton area for generations.
The Kirk family kept the property until the 1930s. In 1946 John and Betsy Sturgeon bought it and hired architect Willis Irvin to preserve the house and match new work to the old. In 1980 the Welton family's Rose Hill Plantation Development Co. bought the surrounding land to build a residential community. The house went on the National Register in May 1983, which the nomination credits less to the house's age than to its design:
"...an exceptional example of antebellum Gothic Revival residential architecture."
Four years later, on Feb. 10, 1987, a fire that LocalLifeSC traced to faulty wiring brought down the roof and chimneys and left the house a burnt shell. Rusty and Robin White bought it in 1996 and began a major restoration. The venue's timeline credits that work to the Middleton White Foundation. During those years the house was a private home that also offered tours and hosted weddings. A 2018 LocalLifeSC feature described a tour of about an hour. Local accounts disagree on when public tours first started. LocalLifeSC puts it in 1983, while a Bluffton.com history says reservation-only tours began after a rehabilitation finished in 1985. Either way, getting inside has usually meant calling ahead.
In December 2021 the Island Packet reported that the house and its roughly 12 acres were on the market as a bank-owned property after a foreclosure, with listing photos showing empty rooms.
Who runs the house now
The house's current operator works in hospitality, not historic house tours. The May River Collection describes itself as a hospitality group with two properties, Kirks Mansion and May River Manor. The Post and Courier identifies Amador Rivera as the owner of May River Manor. The Kirks Mansion homepage carries an owner's statement signed by Rivera. May River Manor is the five-suite inn on 5.5 acres at 155 Old Miller Road, which the Island Packet covered when it opened in early 2024.
That background explains how the house runs today. The Kirks Mansion site sells the estate for weddings, elopements, family reunions, life celebrations, retreats, overnight stays and local group gatherings. Its timeline describes the house today as a private venue. The website shows no general public tour schedule. What the public gets is a ticketed calendar. As of late October 2026, the collection's Eventbrite organizer page showed about two years on the platform, 43 total events and 825 total attendees. This year's fall and holiday season is the busiest stretch on that page.
The season, date by date
The table shows the listings as of Oct. 24, 2026. "Listed price" is the price written in the event description. "Eventbrite shows" is the starting figure on the ticket page.
| Date | Event | Time | Listed price | Eventbrite shows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Sip & Shop at Kirks Mansion | 1 to 5 p.m., fashion show at 1:45 | $55 | From $60.54 |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Autumn Tea at the Mansion, presented by Bluffton Tea Company | 1 to 3:30 p.m. | $99 | From $92.55 |
| Sun., Nov. 15 | Holiday Countdown Calendar Workshop | 1 p.m. | Not listed | From $151.23 |
| Wed., Nov. 18 | November Dinner with Chef Chelsea Sanchez | Arrival 5:30 p.m., through 9 p.m. | $199 | From $135.23 |
| Thu., Nov. 19 | Fall Centerpiece Workshop with Flowers by Katie Ford | 6 p.m. | Not listed | From $215.26 |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Candlelight Concert: Holiday Music Under the Oaks | 6:30 p.m. | Not listed | From $103.22 |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Mistletoe & Magnolias: A Holiday Party | 5:30 p.m. | Not listed | From $375.32 |
| Sun., Dec. 13 | Christmas Tea at Kirks Mansion | 1 p.m. | Not listed | From $107.48 |
The season starts the Sunday after this post goes up. Sip & Shop has the lowest listed price on the calendar and brings in local boutiques, food and drinks, stylists and a 1:45 p.m. fashion show. Its description gives 1 to 4 p.m. for the event itself, with shopping open until 5. The Autumn Tea is a full seasonal tea service with savory and sweet courses. Advance reservations are required, and the ticket includes access to the historic grounds. The November Dinner with Chef Chelsea Sanchez is the one weeknight evening on the calendar.
The page also lists The Kirks Mansion Styled Shoot on Wed., Nov. 11, at 8 a.m., starting at $320.89. Judging by its title, "10 Stations, 10 Creators," it is aimed at photographers and content creators.
Choosing a ticket
The price in each event description and the starting figure on Eventbrite can differ, so the checkout total is the number to plan around. Across the season, Eventbrite's starting figures run from $60.54 for Sip & Shop on Nov. 1 to $375.32 for Mistletoe & Magnolias on Dec. 12. For an afternoon or evening at the estate at a gentler price than the holiday party, the Christmas Tea on Dec. 13 and the Candlelight Concert on Nov. 28 both start near $100.
Before you buy a ticket
These are event tickets, not house tours, so a few details matter more than usual.
- Expect grounds access, not a guided tour. The fall listings include entry to the event and access to the grounds. None of them advertises a guided walk through the house.
- Wear sensible shoes. The Autumn Tea listing warns that the property has brick pathways, steps, uneven ground and areas that may not be fully accessible.
- Confirm times on the ticket page. The Visit Bluffton header for the Autumn Tea says 1 to 4 p.m., while the event details and Eventbrite say 1 to 3:30 p.m. Plans can change after a calendar goes up, and the Eventbrite page is where status updates such as a cancellation appear first.
- Expect to be photographed. The tea listing says photos and video may be taken and may show up in Kirks Mansion's promotional materials.
On the day of the Autumn Tea, Old Town Bluffton's Holiday Art Walk runs from noon to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, with galleries, shops and restaurants opening their doors. That makes it easy to pair an afternoon at Rose Hill with an evening in the Old Town galleries.
At J.P. Signature Group, we're always glad when a Lowcountry landmark finds a new way to open its doors. If you go to the tea, the concert or the chef's dinner at Kirks Mansion this season, we'd love to hear how it went, and we're happy to share other ways to enjoy Bluffton's history close to home. Contact Us anytime.
