From it’s beginings, Rose Hill has been linked with famous families of Florida and the nation.
Early deed records show the eastern part of the original plantation was acquired from the United States government by William Hall in 1827- just six years after Florida was ceded to the U. S. by Spain. Hall was one of the first settlers of Tallahassee, which was founded in 1824.
The western part of the original plantation was acquired in 1830 by William A. Carr, believed to have been a nephew of Thomas Jefferson.
In 1834, the land was purchased by John Branch, a former Governor and U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and it became a part of the Governor’s Live Oak Plantation to the south. In 1844, Governor Branch was appointed by President John Tyler as Florida‘s last territorial Governor. Then President Tyler transfered the territorial seal of the state to newly-elected Governor William Mosely on June 28, 1845 as Florida became the 27th state in the Union.
Governor Branch died in 1863 and the land was willed to his daughter, Margaret Donalson, who had married General Daniel S. Donalson of the Tennessee family of Mrs. Andrew (Rachel) Jackson. Realizing that the Donson farm in Tennessee was in the route of the advancing Union army just hours away. Mrs. Donalson loaded her valuable possessions on wagons and began the long trek to Tallahassee. She is presumed to have stayed on her father’s plantation until after the end of the Civil War.
In 1887, it was purchased by John MacNicol of ”the Kingdom of Belgium”. Five years later it was sold to Thomas Reid, a gentleman of considerable means who described himself in his will as “a merchant of Kilmardinny, Glasgow, Scotland.”
In 1936, the property was acquired by Griscom Bettle, who owned much of the land around Lake Jackson.
Finally, in 1950, Rose Hill was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Nicholson. A noted newspaperman, Nicholson was publisher of a number of newspapers including the New Orleans Item, the St. Petersburg In dependent, and the Charlotte Observer.
A avid sportsman and conservationist, Mr. Nicholson and wife Jane designed Rose Hill as a game refuge. For many years, Rose Hill’s 55-acre lake has been a stopping place for thousands of Canadian geese and mallard ducks.
Under the Nicholson stewardship, Rose Hill was managed as a tree farm. He also planted a small pecan grove near the plantation house. In 1979, the Florida Forestry Association honored Mrs. Jane E. B. Nicholson as the state’s “Tree Farmer of the Year”.
Mr. Nicholson died in 1972. His wife, Jane Elizabeth Blayney Nicholson, died in 1982. The estate was willed to the two Nicholson daughters, Ann Blayney (Mrs. John Tillett) of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Martha Jane Fox of new Orleans, Louisiana.
PLANTATION COUNTRY
The rolling forest between Tallahassee, Florida and Thomasville, Georgia boast some of America’s finest remaining plantations.
Unlike the ante bellum plantations of the old South, these estates were never really established as working farms.
Instead, they have been used primarily as retreats for those who enjoy the hunt and the slower pace of Southern living and who are attracted by the mild winter and abundant game what this area is famous for.
Domination the early plantation life were the brothers Mark and Howard Hanna, 19th century Cleveland industrialists who made a fortune in coal, shipping and oil. Mark Hanna was the first modern political campaign strategist. He planned the successful presidential candidacy of William McKinley in 1896. Today, Hanna’s descendants own 22 area plantations covering 70,000 acres.
Until his recent death, the undisputed leader of the area’s plantation life was John Jay Whitney, a patrician Easterner who owned Greenwood a magnificent 18, 500 acre estate near Thomasville. Whitney was publisher of the New York Herald Tribune, the founder of Minute Maid Corporation, and served as Ambassador to Great Britain in the early 1950’s.
Today, there are some 70 plantations I in the area. Rose Hill with it’s large lake, pine forest and guest house, is well situated to allow full enjoyment of plantation living.
THE MAIN HOUSE
The best historical evidence indicated that the original portion of the main house was built around 1860. Over the years, it has been expanded and renovated a number of times. Today, the main house contains 5,014 square feet of heated and cooled space. The exterior is brick veneer and wood.
PROPERTY HIGHLIGHTS
Rose Hill Plantation consist of more that 500 acres in a rectangular shape.
The property includes 55 acre Lake Elizabeth, a deep, spring fed lake teeming with bass and bream.
The tree farm encompasses 334 acres.
Location and Neighborhood-
Rose hill Plantation is located 6 miles due north of the Florida Stat Capitol building and is a 15-minute drive to downtown Tallahassee.
The property is near Tallahassee’s most exclusive residential areas.
It lies at the southern edge of a series of plantations that stretch to Thomasville, Georgia, some 30 miles to the north.
Rose Hill is bordered on the west by Meridian Road, one of three primary north-south roads in Tallahassee, and on the north by Ox Bottom road- a preferred residential area with tracts of one to five acres. Immediately to the west is the magnificent 10, 000 acre Ayavalla Plantation, which encompasses the northeastern shores of Lake Jackson, the largest lake in the area.
TOPOGRAPHY
Rose Hill Plantation consists of rolling hills and meadows surrounding a deep 55 acre lake. The land is heavily forested in pine, oak, pecan, maple, magnolia and dozen s of other species of trees that thrive in the area. The topography ranges from a low of 151 feet to a high of 230 feet above mean sea level.
WILDLIFE
For many years, Rose Hill Plantation has been a bird and game refuge. Each autumn, it is a stopping point for thousands of Canadian geese and mallard. Deer, wild turkeys, dove and quail populate the plantation year round. Lake Elizabeth is spring fed. Its 40-foot depth makes it one of the deepest in the area. It is teeming with bass and bream.
ZONING AND TAXES
The property is zoned Agricultural-2 and enjoys ‘green belt’ protection under Florida’s ad valorem tax laws. As a result the tax assessment today is only in the $7,500 range.
ONLY SIX MILES FROM FLORID’S CAPITOL BUILDING
Rose Hill Plantation is strategically located. A fifteen-minute drive to the State Capital and Florida State University.
It is in the center of Tallahassee’s most prestigious residential areas. Three miles to the southwest is Lakeshore. Three miles to the south are the mansions of Live Oak Plantation Road. And immediately to the north are the estates of OX Bottom Road. In deed, residential development such as Killearn Lakes have leapfrogged several miles to the north of Rose Hill.
By any criterion, Rose Hill is one of the choicest tracts available in Florida’s dynamic capital city.
TALLAHASSEE…A BEAUTIFUL AND GROWING CITY
Tallahassee is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful small cities in American. Situated in a land of gentle hills and lakes, just 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Tallahassee is literally a ‘city in a forest’. From the air, much of the residential community is hidden by towering trees of oak, pine, maple and dogwood.
The city has two main ‘industries-state government and it’s two major universities, Florida State University and Florida A&M University. Almost half of the working population is employed by one or the other.
Greater Tallahassee has a population today of 160,000. During the decade of the 70’s, the city grew by 44.3 %. By the year 2000, the population is expected to reach 225,000 to 250,000.
FLORIDA…THE #1 GROWTH STATE
Population projections indicate Florida will be by far the fastest growing state in the nation through the year 2000.
The population is expected to jump from 10.4 million in 1983 to 14.4 million by the end of the century.-an increase of 38%. In the process, Florida will move from seventh to fourth among the states, passing Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois.
Florida is also expected to become the single most important trend setting state in the nation and become a leader in high tech industry.
As Florida grows and prospers, so will her capital city. In fact, the projections are that Tallahassee will grow at a somewhat faster rate than the state as a whole.