What is the importance of Rose Hill in the novel, Dread Nation?

Rose Hill is the plantation in Haller County, Kentucky, where Jane was born and grew up. Though the main story line of the novel takes place beginning when Jane is at Miss Preston's School, the reader sees Rose Hill through Jane's memories. In the final chapter of this novel, the reader sees the final installment of a letter from Jane's mother in which she says that Rose Hill has been overrun and those who survived are traveling to California.