A Day at Chinqua Penn Plantation

The Wake County Historical Society invites you to experience a day at Chinqua Penn Plantation on Friday, May 4, 2005. The plantation recently reopened for public tours so you’ll not want to miss this trip!

Built 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 materials at Chinqua Penn, maintained throughout the Penn’s tenure by their gardener, Charlie Talley. Chinqua Penn is named for chinquapin, a dwarf chestnut tree. Once abundant here, most chinquapins were destroyed by the chestnut blight in the 1930’s. Chinqua Penn is located near Reidsville, North Carolina, in Rockingham County. The county is also home to the towns of Eden, Madison, Stoneville, and Wentworth.

The itinerary for Friday, May 4:

8:30 a.m. --- Depart from St. Pauls Church
10:30 a.m. -- Arrive at Chinqua Penn Plantation
11:00 a.m. -- Tour of home and gardens
1:30 p.m. --- Depart for lunch
3:00 p.m. --- Depart for Raleigh
5:00 p.m. --- Arrive at Church