A vision for Chinqua-Penn's rebirth was seen by members of the North Carolina Piedmont Triad community who joined in a regional effort, later incorporating as a Foundation with a focused purpose of reopening and operating Chinqua-Penn

I remember my first visit to Chinqua-Penn during one of 1994's winter ice storms. Members of the Foundation Board of Directors and I carefully walked on the crunchy grass instead of the ice-packed driveway as I was introduced to structures and grounds, uninhabited and "asleep" in winter grayness. I listened instead to the Board's vision--from the community and, spiritually, from Jeff and Betsy Penn. The passion was contagious.

Members of the Chinqua-Penn Foundation Board knew Chinqua-Penn was special and communicated that message to me. Chinqua-Penn's future began with the Foundation's concept which developed into a commitment to reopen and operate the 22-acre estate.

I believe "beyond our expectations" is an important perspective that we must live by in operating Chinqua-Penn. With a professional staff and numerous volunteers, we will continue to have a vision, lofty goals and a faith in obtaining that which we may not be able to reach today, but can tomorrow. I am reminded of the bamboo story. When planted, watered and fed, it grows slowly for three to five years, then can grow ninety feet in six weeks. We are embarking upon cultural changes like bamboo growth and Chinqua-Penn is an evolving process of a living organism incorporating both slow and fast growth spurts.

The Foundation's long-range plan for Chinqua-Penn's future reflects a commitment to becoming one of our nation's most visible, viable, and valuable cultural resources. As conservationist Northrop Frye so aptly stated, "The rear-view mirror is our only crystal ball--there is no guide for the future except the analogues of the past."

What better way is there to transfer the romance of the Penn's early 20th century Global Adventure to our future generations than through Chinqua-Penn?

Susan Cline Gwinn

 

At the Taj Mahal, Jeff found another subconscious model. There, he pondered "this great inspiring love [that] lingers lastingly through all Eternity," the inspiration for "this exquisite veil of death....this spotless white marble mausoleum...that would defy death in its noble strength, and yet carry such pleasing proportions, such soothing symmetry, such gossamer, queenly femininity, as to be the eternal fit resting place for this soul-mate, in the Garden of Love!" Such powerful emotions undoubtedly played a role in shaping Jeff's plans for his own final resting place. When one considers that Jeff wanted his ashes scattered from an airplane over Chinqua-Penn and his heart buried beneath a favorite stand of pines not far from the house, one begins to comprehend the grand theatrical scale on which the Penns sought to experience both life and death.

Chinqua-Penn's heyday coincided with the turbulent years leading up to World War II. A shrewd international businessman and astute citizen of the world, Jeff had a very hardheaded, conservative, practical side as well. In his travel accounts, he recognized that history was being shaped even as he and Betsy sought adventure and trophies in the very lands that were shifting the balance of world power and changing the course of twentieth century history. A trip to Japan in 1929 led him to assert that "The Japanese ardently admire and intensely imitate the Germans in their architecture and military training. They do," he wrote, "adore brass buttons and the strut of the soldier." Oblivious to the stereotypes that constrained his own thinking, he nonetheless expressed genuine worriment over larger issues of interracial harmony and world peace. "Can the yellow and black and white man," he asked, "live in harmony and fairness on the face of the earth?"

From "a so-called station" on the muchly misnamed 'Trans-Siberian-Express-Train No.1'" in the spring of 1929, Jeff found Soviet Siberia to be "limp, laggardly, listlessly looking for something....saturated with excuses for the present and pretending to live on the vain promises of some mighty mythical millennium of the far distant future." He blamed Siberia's "millions of miles of misery" on "these meddling men from Moscow," predicting that Russia's leaders would "breed riots and shed blood" in "any and all parts of the world that will allow them in." Presciently, he concluded that "Russia has a long, long ways yet to go before realizing the wonderful dream of the millennium on this earth."

Both on the surface and beneath it, Chinqua-Penn demonstrates the Jeff and Betsy Penn were no ordinary people and the home they built here was no ordinary family home. The closer we look, the more we realize that Chinqua-Penn--and the amazing couple whose visions and realities of their time by personal fortunes of a magnitude that enabled them to survive worldwide depression virtually unscathed, the Penns lived a charmed life. Their circumstances and outlook contrasted sharply with those of their neighbors, especially the black and white families that faced the full force of the realities of the hardship of their times. All of this is part of Chinqua-Penn's story--a story that has yet to be fully recounted. The more we seek to discover and understand that fascinating tale, the more we realize how complex the Penns and their world really were.

Once Betsy and Jeff Penn's private home, Chinqua-Penn today opens its doors to all who would appreciate its beauty and learn from its past. The more questions one asks, the more satisfying and rewarding one's visit will be.