The Clock Tower
You can see the Chinqua-Penn Clock Tower, built in 1931 for Betsy and Jeff Penn, from Wentworth Street, adjacent to the Penns’ house and to the farm buildings now used by the UPRS. The clock itself has not worked for a number of years. But as recently as this past spring you could hear the chimes in many spots along the Chinqua-Penn Walking Trail, with that familiar Westminster peal on each quarter hour. The chimes are silent again now; it is not easy nor cheap to keep century-old mechanisms in good working order!
The Clock Tower was built in 1931 by Antonio Cescutti, the Italian stone mason who built the house, the dam, and the windmill. Seventy five feet tall, the three-story square tower was built with rock from the nearby quarries. The Penns wanted a clock they could see and chimes they could hear from almost anywhere on the estate. The ground floor of the tower has square windows and was originally used to smoke meat; iron hooks are built into the ceiling joists. The second story houses the Deagan Chimes and a set of slender Gothic arches on each side of the building. The third story has the clock works and a clock face on each side of the tower. A hipped slate roof with a weathervane caps the tower.
Deagan Chimes were the gold standard of chimes for large formal buildings in the early 20th century. J.C. Deagan created a radical improvement in carillons for churches and public buildings: massive tubular bells, equipped with dampers to eliminate tone intermingling, controlled electrically, and playable both manually from keyboard and automatically from perforated paper rolls, under clock control. Jeff Penn would have paid at least $10,000 in the 1930s to have the 16-tube system installed in the clock tower with a keyboard located in the adjacent lodge buildings. He could have had a Deagan Westminster chiming device installed to the chimes, connected to its own internal clock, or the chimes may have been just played with the keyboard on various occasions. In 1995 a Deagan automatic roll-playing unit was installed to play the Westminster peal chimes.
The clock in the tower is known as a “turret clock,” designed to be mounted high in the wall of a public building, such as churches, university buildings, and town halls. Its large face is designed to be visible from far away. This is said to be an Edward Howard tower clock, made by the Howard Clock company in Roxbury, Massachusetts in the early 1930s.
The Clock Tower was built in 1931 by Antonio Cescutti, the Italian stone mason who built the house, the dam, and the windmill. Seventy five feet tall, the three-story square tower was built with rock from the nearby quarries. The Penns wanted a clock they could see and chimes they could hear from almost anywhere on the estate. The ground floor of the tower has square windows and was originally used to smoke meat; iron hooks are built into the ceiling joists. The second story houses the Deagan Chimes and a set of slender Gothic arches on each side of the building. The third story has the clock works and a clock face on each side of the tower. A hipped slate roof with a weathervane caps the tower.
Deagan Chimes were the gold standard of chimes for large formal buildings in the early 20th century. J.C. Deagan created a radical improvement in carillons for churches and public buildings: massive tubular bells, equipped with dampers to eliminate tone intermingling, controlled electrically, and playable both manually from keyboard and automatically from perforated paper rolls, under clock control. Jeff Penn would have paid at least $10,000 in the 1930s to have the 16-tube system installed in the clock tower with a keyboard located in the adjacent lodge buildings. He could have had a Deagan Westminster chiming device installed to the chimes, connected to its own internal clock, or the chimes may have been just played with the keyboard on various occasions. In 1995 a Deagan automatic roll-playing unit was installed to play the Westminster peal chimes.
The clock in the tower is known as a “turret clock,” designed to be mounted high in the wall of a public building, such as churches, university buildings, and town halls. Its large face is designed to be visible from far away. This is said to be an Edward Howard tower clock, made by the Howard Clock company in Roxbury, Massachusetts in the early 1930s.
The Chinqua-Penn Plantation
The Chinqua-Penn Plantation once consisted of more than one thousand acres of rolling land, bounded by what are now Wentworth Street, Salem Church Road, Cedar Lane, and 4H center, just north of Reidsville. The Penns’ 27-room 33,000 square foot home, constructed between 1923 and 1926, was at the heart of the plantation, which they named after the chinquapin, a species of American chestnut that was once plentiful in the area.
Thomas Jefferson “Jeff” Penn was the son of Frank Reid Penn, who brought the Penn Tobacco Company from Virginia to Reidsville in the early 1880s, and Annie Spencer Penn. Jeff grew up in Reidsville and attended local schools, the Danville Military Institute, and the University of Virginia. He worked for a number of years for his father's tobacco company as a tobacco sales representative in California and China. After the company was sold to the American Tobacco Company in 1911, Jeff became an investment banker in Buffalo, New York. But his ties to Rockingham County were still strong: In 1911 he began acquiring land just north of Reidsville with the intention of building a model farm for agricultural demonstrations in cooperation with the local agent.
Jeff married Genevieve Schoellkopf, a widow, in 1915, in Buffalo. The Schoellkopf family was well-known and well off in Buffalo, having developed hydroelectricity from Niagara Falls. Tragically, Genevieve and their two sons died of disease by 1921. Jeff focused what remained of his life in Reidsville, where he had grown up, and continued to acquire land for his farm. In the 1920s he was employing local farm workers and raising Berkshire hogs, poultry and sheep. His special interest was a large dairy herd of Holstein cattle. In 1921 he started the Chinqua-Penn Dairy with local milk delivery.
As Jeff was tying up his affairs in Buffalo, he met Genevieve’s cousin, Betsy Schoellkopf, a divorcee. They shared interests in travel, horseback riding, and fine art. Before their marriage in 1923, Jeff asked Betsy whether she would rather live in Buffalo, or on the dairy farm he was developing in Reidsville. She chose the farm, which became the Chinqua-Penn Plantation.
Thomas Jefferson “Jeff” Penn was the son of Frank Reid Penn, who brought the Penn Tobacco Company from Virginia to Reidsville in the early 1880s, and Annie Spencer Penn. Jeff grew up in Reidsville and attended local schools, the Danville Military Institute, and the University of Virginia. He worked for a number of years for his father's tobacco company as a tobacco sales representative in California and China. After the company was sold to the American Tobacco Company in 1911, Jeff became an investment banker in Buffalo, New York. But his ties to Rockingham County were still strong: In 1911 he began acquiring land just north of Reidsville with the intention of building a model farm for agricultural demonstrations in cooperation with the local agent.
Jeff married Genevieve Schoellkopf, a widow, in 1915, in Buffalo. The Schoellkopf family was well-known and well off in Buffalo, having developed hydroelectricity from Niagara Falls. Tragically, Genevieve and their two sons died of disease by 1921. Jeff focused what remained of his life in Reidsville, where he had grown up, and continued to acquire land for his farm. In the 1920s he was employing local farm workers and raising Berkshire hogs, poultry and sheep. His special interest was a large dairy herd of Holstein cattle. In 1921 he started the Chinqua-Penn Dairy with local milk delivery.
As Jeff was tying up his affairs in Buffalo, he met Genevieve’s cousin, Betsy Schoellkopf, a divorcee. They shared interests in travel, horseback riding, and fine art. Before their marriage in 1923, Jeff asked Betsy whether she would rather live in Buffalo, or on the dairy farm he was developing in Reidsville. She chose the farm, which became the Chinqua-Penn Plantation.
