HistoryBuilt in the 1920's by Thomas Jefferson Penn (1875-1946) and his wife, Beatrice Schoellkopf Penn (1881-1965), Chinqua Penn reflects their lifestyle of entertaining, traveling, and collecting art and furniture from around the world. The historic landscape evolved into an exotic horticulture collection, changing with each season. The Penn's love of the beautiful and artistic was manifested in the use of both native and imported plant material at Chinqua Penn, maintained throughout the Penn's tenure by their gardener, Charlie Talley. Chinqua Penn is named for the chinquapin, a dwarf chestnut tree. Once abundant here, most chinquapins were destroyed by the chestnut blight in the 1930's.
Thomas Jefferson Penn (1875-1946) was a businessman and farmer, a combination that won him respect as a pioneer in the field of dairy husbandry.
In 1874, Jeff Penn's father, Frank Reid Penn left Penn's Store, Virginia, to gain access to a railroad. He settled in Reidsville, where he and brother Sarn Cabell Penn started the Penn Tobacco Company. As a result, Jeff Penn grew up in Rockingham County, attended the University of Virginia and began his professional career as a sales representative for Penn Tobacco. During his 19 years with the family business, he worked out of San Francisco, California and Shanghai, China.
The year 1911 marked a turning point in Jeff Penn's life. Frank Reid Penn sold Penn Tobacco to the American Tobacco Company, and Jeff subsequently purchased several hundred acres of land in Rockingham County. He called the new tract Corn Jug Farm and, despite responsibilities in New York state where he was associated with a stock and bond farm, began outfitting toward a dairy husbandry business. Also in 1911, Jeff's younger sister, Mattie Irwin Penn, married Paul Schoellkopf, Betsy's younger brother. This union initiated the warm interconnection between families that would ultimately join Jeff and Betsy.
In 1915, Jeff Penn married Genevieve Schoellkopf Vom Berge, first cousin to Betsy Schoellkopf Penn. Jeff and Genevieve had two sons, neither of whom lived past childhood. Then during the flu epidemic of 1919, Genevieve died in childbirth. The daughter, Marie Lee, did not survive.
Throughout the next few years, Penn devoted considerable time, effort, and money to farming. By 1922, he owned over 1,000 acres, and his Holstein herd averaging 1,300 pounds per animal, was becoming worthy of notice. Chinqua Penn Plantation was well on its way toward becoming a premier demonstration farm.
Margaret Beatrice Penn (1881-1965) was the only daughter of Arthur Shoellkopf, chairman of the board of directors for Niagara Falls power Company and past mayor of Niagara Falls. She was educated at a private girls' school in New York and then traveled abroad for two years. In 1905, she married Julius Schwill, a Chicago millionaire, and spent 17 years in the prominent social circle of the city's north shore.
Later, as mistress of Chinqua Penn Plantation, Betsy Penn hosted many charity and social events, including the annual kickoff dinner for the Reidsville Community Chest. Betsy Penn also was instrumental in funding the Reidsville Hospital, and it was by her hand that the Penn 4-H Center was established on the site of Corn Jug Farm. "Despite all her money and social position, she was a down-to-earth person," recalled Charles Talley, plantation gardener from 1929 until 1985. "She made special effort for everyone. Around Thanksgiving she'd ride over the plantation and ask all the foremen to make a list of the workers' children, their ages, and sizes. She'd be going to New York the next week and she'd buy a Christmas present for each."
Bob Boyles, Chinqua Penn chauffeur for 15 years, remembered Betsy Penn as a perfect lady from the old school. "Although it was my job," said Boyles, " I never once opened a car door for Mrs. Penn that she didn't thank me. I lost a real friend when she died."
Betsy was persuaded by her nieces and nephews to give the property, without furnishings, to the University of North Carolina system. Paul Schoellkopf, Jr. and Jasmin Schoellkopf Tremley also decided to give the furnishings to University system. In October 1959, Betsy's bequest was accepted by Governor Luther Hodges.
The ownership of the Plantation was transferred to Calvin Phelps on August 25, 2006. Mr. Phelps is the founder of Renegade Tobacco Company in Mocksville, North Carolina.
