Chinsegut Hill

Chinsegut Hill, at an elevation of 269 feet (82 m), is one of the highest points in peninsular Florida. It is located in Hernando County north of the city of Brooksville.[1]

History

The area now known as Chinsegut Hill was acquired from the United States government in 1842. The historic site of the Chinsegut Hill Manor House was constructed in 1849. The property was sold and bought several times in the latter half of the 19th century. In 1904, Raymond Robins bought the property and gave it its current name of Chinsegut, which is an Inuit word for "The spirit of things lost and regained." Raymond and Margaret Robins extended and dramatically improved the property in subsequent years.[2]

The Robinses also increased the historical significance of the property through their involvement in politics. At Chinsegut Hill the Robinses entertained countless prominent guests including Soviet 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.[3] Photographs of scenes and people at Chinsegut Hill in the 1920s and 1930s are available in the Special Collections of the University of Florida's George Smathers Library.[4] Using his connections with the Herbert Hoover administration, Raymond eventually 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.[5] By 1932, Robins had donated the house and land back to the federal government for research and philanthropy.[6]

Today the original Chinsegut Hill and its historical Manor House are within the Main Station of the Sub-tropical Agricultural Research Station (STARS). This large federal facility with programs in land and pasture management, animal resources and health, and weather observation, is jointly supported and administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Chinsegut Hill, Florida, Points of Interest, Mountains, Hiking, Climbing and travel". Mountainpeaks.net. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  2. ↑ Salzman, Neil V. Reform and Revolution: The Life and Times of Raymond Robins. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991.
  3. ↑ Money, "Chinsegut Chronology," n.p.
  4. ↑ "Lisa von Borowsky Collection - UF Special and Area Studies Collections". Web.uflib.ufl.edu. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  5. ↑ Salzman, Reform and Revolution, p. 344-345.
  6. ↑ Archived February 20, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "SubTropical Agricultural Research Station : Facilities". Ars.usda.gov. Retrieved 2012-06-18.

External links

Coordinates: 28°37′09″N 82°21′52″W / 28.6191584°N 82.3645371°W / 28.6191584; -82.3645371


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