The Winter Colony estate known as Rose Hill has been part of the Aiken scene since it was built around 1898.
Originally, it was the seasonal home of Col. Sheffield Phelps and his wife, Claudia.
More recently, Rose Hill has served as an event center. Dining services and overnight accommodations also have been offered there.
On Tuesday, Elizabeth Smith and her fiance, Andrew Hobbs, closed a deal to purchase Rose Hill from local businessman Ketan Patel.
“After doing our due diligence and research, we determined that it would be an honor for Mr. Patel to pass the legacy and the torch from all his hard work to us and allow us to take it forward from the hospitality, event and food and beverage standpoint,” Smith said. “We’re going to make his vision our vision and execute it.”
Smith is a former executive director of The First Tee of Aiken, a youth development organization that teaches life skills, core values and healthy habits through the game of golf.
She also has served as general manager of the Carriage House Inn, which is owned by her mother, Anne Thomasson.
“My fiancé is in a country called Vanuatu, which is in the South Pacific Ocean, and he’s actually locked in right now,” Smith said. “They haven’t had any cases of COVID-19, so he can’t get out. Andrew has owned numerous businesses, from hospitality to radio stations to hardware stores.”
Rose Hill is scheduled to reopen under their ownership Sept. 2.
There will be two restaurants under the direction of Executive Chef Jeff Hairston, who has moved from Ohio to Aiken.
Located on the first floor of Rose Hill’s two-story, Dutch colonial shingle-style main house will be Sheffield’s. There also will be seating outside in the garden.
“It’s going to be a fine dining tapas restaurant,” Smith said.
The Stables, a former Rose Hill horse facility that was repurposed and turned into a restaurant in the past, also is set to return as an eatery.
Smith asked Hairston to describe The Stables’ fare, and he said it would be “a modern twist on Southern food, with a regional focus on ingredients and relationships with local farms.”
Eight guest rooms in Rose Hill’s main house will be available for overnight accommodations, and public and private events also will be held at the estate.
“There will be weddings, obviously, and birthday parties and anniversaries along with corporate meetings,” Smith said. “For anything an individual or business would like to book, we can work with them to create whatever they can envision. We’re also looking to engage the community in diverse ways so they can enjoy Rose Hill.”
In the name of Niki Inc., Patel purchased Rose Hill while it was in foreclosure for $700,000 at an Aiken County Master-in-Equity deficiency sale in June 2018 at the Aiken County Judicial Center.
Afterward, under Patel’s direction, workers replaced roofs on the estate’s various structures, sanded and stained floors, put in new tiles and changed the driveways’ surfaces from pebbles to concrete.
They also cleaned up Rose Hill’s 4.14 acres of property and made many landscaping improvements.
In October 2018, Patel held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and party to announce his plans for Rose Hill. He said the estate was accepting reservations for events. He also talked about operating the main house as a boutique hotel and reopening The Stables restaurant.
The owners immediately prior to Patel, Eva Mueller and her son, Stephen, acquired Rose Hill in 2002. They promoted it as an event center and offered long-term and short-term accommodations for guests.
In addition, they launched The Stables in 2009.
“I am proud to own Rose Hill,” said Patel after he acquired the estate nine years later and added it to his business ventures, which include the 3-Way Food Mart chain and rental properties.
Patel also is a partner in The Vista, which is a schooling facility for horses and a venue for weddings and other events.
“I bought Rose Hill for my own family as a legacy, and I have done a lot of major work on it,” Patel said. “I want to thank the City of Aiken, Public Safety and the people who helped me bring it back up to this level.
“But as time went on,” he continued, “I changed my mind. I decided that this is not my type of business. I don’t have enough knowledge about restaurants, hotels and all that stuff. I talked to our Realtor and a few people about wanting to sell it (Rose Hill), and finally, it is going into the right hands. She (Smith) knows better than I about what to do.”
Patel has told Smith he is more than willing to answer questions and provide advice based on his familiarity with the property.
“I know every corner,” he said.
Smith praised Patel for his cooperation as a seller.
“Thanks to Mr. Patel, we took over operationally a couple of weeks ago, so there has been a smooth transition,” Smith said. “We are appreciative and grateful that we had the property at our disposal, with his support, so we could go ahead and start some of the work early to get ready for our opening date.”
Both Smith and Patel declined to reveal the price for which Rose Hill was sold, and it hasn’t been posted online yet in Aiken County’s land records.
Rose Hill is at 221 Greenville St. N.W.
During late the 1800s, wealthy visitors from the Northeast established Aiken’s Winter Colony, so they could escape cold weather while enjoying a variety of equestrian sports and other activities.
They built large homes such as Rose Hill’s main residence that they often referred to as “cottages.”
