Chinsegut .... A Storied Plantation

In a rather remote area of central Florida, on the crest of the highest peak on the state's peninsula, a nearly 170-year-old plantation manor house holds fascinating stories from the lives of its' owners, residents and guests. 

 Noteable in Chinsegut’s history is the very prominent actress, playwright and author, Elizabeth Robins, a friend of George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde.  She bought the plantation to share as a residence with her brother, Raymond.  He had been an Alaskan gold prospector turned preacher before marrying an organizer of women’s unions. He had studied economics and, after marriage, became an advisor to seven U.S. Presidents and an emissary to Russia where he befriended Marxist revolutionaries Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin.

Chinsegut, through the years, saw a parade of visitors including Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, J.C. Penny,      Wm. Jennings Bryan and various Soviet ambassadors.  It was also home to a girl who came as a slave at age 12, stayed on after emancipation and became a pipe smoking midwife delivering more babies than any area doctor.

Casually walking through Chinsegut's beautifully restored manor house, pausing on the raised veranda and looking out across the well groomed acreage, one imagined relaxing there in the company of those quite notable guests and their gracious hosts, enjoying a julep, conversation and the picturesque tranquility of a time long past. 

The Chinsegut manor house.