Chinsegut Hill Manor House
Encyclopedia
The Chinsegut Hill Manor House (also known as Tiger Tail Hill, Mount Airy, Snow Hill, or simply The Hill) is a U.S.
historic site approximately five miles northeast of the city of Brooksville
, Florida
on Chinsegut Hill
. It is located at 22495 Chinsegut Hill Road. Begun in the 1840s, the building was greatly enlarged in the following decades.
(1835-1842) and the passing of the Armed Occupation Act
on August 4, 1842, the character of Florida
was transformed. In the interior of the Florida peninsula, devoid of white settlement just 10 years before, plantations
were rapidly established. By the eve of statehood, planters maintained that nearly half the population and wealth of the territory was now located in central Florida
.
Drawn to central Florida
by the opportunity offered by the Armed Occupation Act
, Colonel Byrd Pearson from South Carolina
laid claim to 5000 acres (20.2 km²) in what is now Hernando County. He named his plantation
Tiger Tail Hill and began cultivating sugarcane
with the use of slave labor
. First erected in c. 1847, the oldest section of the Chinsegut Hill manor house –the east wing of the house- was completed just two years after Florida
became a state.
In 1851, Pearson sold the property to another South Carolinian emigrant to Florida
named Francis Higgins Ederington. Between 1852 and 1854, Ederington constructed what is now the main piece of the manor house.
In 1866, Colonel Russel Snow (also a South Carolinian) married Francis Ederington’s daughter –Charlotte- and gained control of the plantation
, renaming it Snow Hill. By the turn of the century large verandas and the entire third floor of the manor house had been added.
and Margaret Robins
. Upon his acquisition of the property in 1904, Raymond renamed the property Chinsegut Hill and –along with his wife- set out to improve the grounds. In 1910, the couple added a kitchen to the east wing of the house, a widow’s walk
and ventilator, the west chimney, an expanded study, and a music room. The Robins later added four bathrooms (1914), acquired additional land (1917]), added the porte-cochere
(1925), and added a fifth bathroom, electricity, and a well (1933).
In addition to their tremendous expansion of the property itself, the Robinses did much to improve the historical significance of the property through their involvement in politics. During the Russian Revolution, Raymond was appointed as the Commissioner of the American Red Cross
Mission to Russia
where he met with numerous Russian dignitaries including Alexander Kerensky
, Leon Trotsky
, and Vladimir Lenin
. Margaret Robins dined with President Calvin Coolidge in 1923 while her husband was being considered for a cabinet post. In 1928, Raymond was present at the signing of the Pact of Paris
and was called upon to help plan the presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover
.
The collapse of the stock market
in 1929 left the Robins in financial ruin. Using his connections with Herbert Hoover
and his administration, Raymond brokered a deal to donate the Chinsegut Hill estate to the government with the stipulation that the couple be allowed to live there until their deaths, free of property taxes.
After years of illness, Margaret Robins died in 1945. Although he remained active in political affairs for several years after his wife’s death, Raymond Robins died in 1954. In the same year the University of Florida
signed a four-year lease for the property, intending to use the site as a branch library utilizing Robins' 8,000 volumes.
ambassadors, Helen Keller
, Jane Addams
, William Jennings Bryan
, Thomas Edison
, James Cash Penney, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
, Senator Claude Pepper
, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes
to name a few.
expired and the university removed the books housed in the manor house, essentially abandoning the property. During the same year the University of South Florida
obtained the manor house and surrounding property, signing a four-year lease as the University of Florida
had previously.
Under the governance of the University of South Florida
, the Chinsegut Hill manor house has undergone several modifications and "modernizations” -in line with the university’s intention to utilize the site as a conference center. The university signed a 20-year lease in 1962 and has since expended vast amounts of time and money to preserve and restore the property. Alterations to the manor house include the removal of the widow’s walk
and ventilator due rainwater leakage (1963), construction of several cabins (1972 & 1990’s), a dining room (1982), a classroom (1986]), a maintenance shop (1986]), and a storage shed (1990).
In 1982, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
transferred the title of the Chinsegut Hill property to the University of South Florida
once the previous lease had expired and the university had fulfilled its obligations regarding the lease.
On November 21, 2003, Chinsegut Hill was added to the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
through a concerted effort by members of the faculty at the University of South Florida
.
. A plaque was commissioned by Lisa von Borowsky -family friend of the Robinses and caretaker of the property- and placed on the ground near the Lenin Oak. The plaque honored the wishes of Raymond Robins to commemorate the Russian Revolution’s leader, Vladimir Lenin
. In 1961, a group of Boy Scouts
discovered the plaque and reported the find to the Tampa Tribune. During the ensuing media firestorm, the University of South Florida
claimed to know nothing of the plaque in an attempt to disassociate the university with pro-communist innuendo. Increased outcry from the media and the general public led to an inquiry in front of a grand jury on May 4, 1961. Forty-three years and three days after Margaret Robins planted the oak tree on the property, Borowsky was forced to testify on her activities as well as those of the Robinses.
During the 1960s, the house had many guests, from visiting researchers to USF faculty and friends. Sadly, many of the small items in the house were removed by visitors. More recently, the Chinsegut Hill manor house and the surrounding property has been plagued by the strain of age and deterioration. Many small outbuildings and a water tower have been demolished. The University of South Florida
has done much to maintain the status quo of the property, but has done little to realize any meaningful efforts to restore the manor house to its previous glory. Much of the university’s inaction stems from the history of slavery
at the Chinsegut Hill property.
Currently, a small contingent of students from the Honors Program at the University of South Florida
has convened in order to present information and new possible uses of the Chinsegut Hill property to the university's administrators.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historic site approximately five miles northeast of the city of Brooksville
Brooksville
Brooksville is the name of several places in the United States:* Brooksville, Florida* Brooksville, Kentucky* Brooksville, Maine...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
on Chinsegut Hill
Chinsegut Hill (Florida)
Chinsegut Hill, at an elevation of , is one of the highest points in peninsular Florida. It is located in Hernando County north of the city of Brooksville.- History :...
. It is located at 22495 Chinsegut Hill Road. Begun in the 1840s, the building was greatly enlarged in the following decades.
History
With the conclusion of the Second Seminole WarSecond Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between various groups of Native Americans collectively known as Seminoles and the United States, part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars...
(1835-1842) and the passing of the Armed Occupation Act
Armed Occupation Act
The Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 was passed as an incentive to populate Florida. The Act granted 160 acres of unsettled land south of the line separating townships 9 and 10 South....
on August 4, 1842, the character of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
was transformed. In the interior of the Florida peninsula, devoid of white settlement just 10 years before, plantations
Plantation (settlement or colony)
Plantation was an early method of colonization in which settlers were "planted" abroad in order to establish a permanent or semi-permanent colonial base. Such plantations were also frequently intended to promote Western culture and Christianity among nearby indigenous peoples, as can be seen in the...
were rapidly established. By the eve of statehood, planters maintained that nearly half the population and wealth of the territory was now located in central Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Drawn to central Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
by the opportunity offered by the Armed Occupation Act
Armed Occupation Act
The Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 was passed as an incentive to populate Florida. The Act granted 160 acres of unsettled land south of the line separating townships 9 and 10 South....
, Colonel Byrd Pearson from South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
laid claim to 5000 acres (20.2 km²) in what is now Hernando County. He named his plantation
Plantation (settlement or colony)
Plantation was an early method of colonization in which settlers were "planted" abroad in order to establish a permanent or semi-permanent colonial base. Such plantations were also frequently intended to promote Western culture and Christianity among nearby indigenous peoples, as can be seen in the...
Tiger Tail Hill and began cultivating sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
with the use of slave labor
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. First erected in c. 1847, the oldest section of the Chinsegut Hill manor house –the east wing of the house- was completed just two years after Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
became a state.
In 1851, Pearson sold the property to another South Carolinian emigrant to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
named Francis Higgins Ederington. Between 1852 and 1854, Ederington constructed what is now the main piece of the manor house.
In 1866, Colonel Russel Snow (also a South Carolinian) married Francis Ederington’s daughter –Charlotte- and gained control of the plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
, renaming it Snow Hill. By the turn of the century large verandas and the entire third floor of the manor house had been added.
The Robins’ Era
Possibly the most historically significant period for the Chinsegut Hill manor house occurred during the stewardship of RaymondRaymond Robins
Raymond Robins was an American economist and writer. He was an advocate of organized labor and diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia under the Bolsheviks.-Biography:...
and Margaret Robins
Margaret Dreier Robins
Margaret Dreier Robins was an American labor leader. Born in Brooklyn to prosperous German immigrants in 1868, in her teens Robins suffered from physical ailments which left her depressed and weak. She was privately educated. At age nineteen, she began doing charity work at Brooklyn Hospital and...
. Upon his acquisition of the property in 1904, Raymond renamed the property Chinsegut Hill and –along with his wife- set out to improve the grounds. In 1910, the couple added a kitchen to the east wing of the house, a widow’s walk
Widow's walk
A widow's walk also known as a "widow's watch" is a railed rooftop platform often with a small enclosed cupola frequently found on 19th century North American houses. A popular romantic myth holds that the platform was used to observe vessels at sea...
and ventilator, the west chimney, an expanded study, and a music room. The Robins later added four bathrooms (1914), acquired additional land (1917]), added the porte-cochere
Porte-cochere
A porte-cochère is the architectural term for a porch- or portico-like structure at a main or secondary entrance to a building through which a horse and carriage can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.The porte-cochère was a feature of many late 18th...
(1925), and added a fifth bathroom, electricity, and a well (1933).
In addition to their tremendous expansion of the property itself, the Robinses did much to improve the historical significance of the property through their involvement in politics. During the Russian Revolution, Raymond was appointed as the Commissioner of the American Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
Mission to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
where he met with numerous Russian dignitaries including Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
, Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, and Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. Margaret Robins dined with President Calvin Coolidge in 1923 while her husband was being considered for a cabinet post. In 1928, Raymond was present at the signing of the Pact of Paris
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact was an agreement signed on August 27, 1928, by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Weimar Germany and a number of other countries.The pact renounced war , prohibiting the use of war...
and was called upon to help plan the presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
.
The collapse of the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
in 1929 left the Robins in financial ruin. Using his connections with Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
and his administration, Raymond brokered a deal to donate the Chinsegut Hill estate to the government with the stipulation that the couple be allowed to live there until their deaths, free of property taxes.
After years of illness, Margaret Robins died in 1945. Although he remained active in political affairs for several years after his wife’s death, Raymond Robins died in 1954. In the same year the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
signed a four-year lease for the property, intending to use the site as a branch library utilizing Robins' 8,000 volumes.
Famous Guests of Chinsegut Hill
During their occupation of the Chinsegut Hill property, the Robinses entertained countless prominent guests including SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
ambassadors, Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
, Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
, William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, James Cash Penney, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an American author who lived in rural Florida and wrote novels with rural themes and settings. Her best known work, The Yearling, about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn, won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939 and was later made into a movie, also known as The...
, Senator Claude Pepper
Claude Pepper
Claude Denson Pepper was an American politician of the Democratic Party, and a spokesman for left-liberalism and the elderly. In foreign policy he shifted from pro-Soviet in the 1940s to anti-Communist in the 1950s...
, and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Ickes...
to name a few.
Recent Events and Expansion
In 1958, the lease signed by the University of FloridaUniversity of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
expired and the university removed the books housed in the manor house, essentially abandoning the property. During the same year the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
obtained the manor house and surrounding property, signing a four-year lease as the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
had previously.
Under the governance of the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
, the Chinsegut Hill manor house has undergone several modifications and "modernizations” -in line with the university’s intention to utilize the site as a conference center. The university signed a 20-year lease in 1962 and has since expended vast amounts of time and money to preserve and restore the property. Alterations to the manor house include the removal of the widow’s walk
Widow's walk
A widow's walk also known as a "widow's watch" is a railed rooftop platform often with a small enclosed cupola frequently found on 19th century North American houses. A popular romantic myth holds that the platform was used to observe vessels at sea...
and ventilator due rainwater leakage (1963), construction of several cabins (1972 & 1990’s), a dining room (1982), a classroom (1986]), a maintenance shop (1986]), and a storage shed (1990).
In 1982, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
transferred the title of the Chinsegut Hill property to the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
once the previous lease had expired and the university had fulfilled its obligations regarding the lease.
On November 21, 2003, Chinsegut Hill was added to the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
through a concerted effort by members of the faculty at the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
.
Controversy
In 1959, Chinsegut Hill was embroiled in the Red ScareRed Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
. A plaque was commissioned by Lisa von Borowsky -family friend of the Robinses and caretaker of the property- and placed on the ground near the Lenin Oak. The plaque honored the wishes of Raymond Robins to commemorate the Russian Revolution’s leader, Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. In 1961, a group of Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
discovered the plaque and reported the find to the Tampa Tribune. During the ensuing media firestorm, the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
claimed to know nothing of the plaque in an attempt to disassociate the university with pro-communist innuendo. Increased outcry from the media and the general public led to an inquiry in front of a grand jury on May 4, 1961. Forty-three years and three days after Margaret Robins planted the oak tree on the property, Borowsky was forced to testify on her activities as well as those of the Robinses.
During the 1960s, the house had many guests, from visiting researchers to USF faculty and friends. Sadly, many of the small items in the house were removed by visitors. More recently, the Chinsegut Hill manor house and the surrounding property has been plagued by the strain of age and deterioration. Many small outbuildings and a water tower have been demolished. The University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
has done much to maintain the status quo of the property, but has done little to realize any meaningful efforts to restore the manor house to its previous glory. Much of the university’s inaction stems from the history of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
at the Chinsegut Hill property.
Currently, a small contingent of students from the Honors Program at the University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
has convened in order to present information and new possible uses of the Chinsegut Hill property to the university's administrators.
External links
- USF Florida Studies Center Chinsegut Hill website
- USF's Official Chinsegut Hill website
- The University of South Florida
- U.S. National Register of Historic Places
- The Florida Historical Society
Further reading
- DeWitt, Dan. "Chinsegut opening is just a 'trial run'." St. Petersburg Times. 3 June 1993.
- DeWitt, Dan. "Parting way - and parting shots." St. Petersburg Times. 9 September 2001.
- DeWitt, Dan. "Push is on to fix Manor House." St. Petersburg Times. 4 April 1990.
- DeWitt, Dan. "To the Manor Reborn." St. Petersburg Times. 24 January 1991.
- Huse, Andy. "Chinsegut Hill: From activist owners to the hands of public universities." The Oracle. 15 March 2004.
- Johnson, Neil. "Old manor steeped in history." Tampa Tribune. 29 November 1999.
- Smiljanich, Dorothy. "The spirit of Chinsegut awaits rediscovery." St. Petersburg Times. (date unknown)