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| English style chestnut manor built by Jefferson and Margaret Penn |
So -- we went to see the place. Sadly, the mansion is STILL owned by a tobacco family, so our visit went to help enrich people who are already too rich for anyone's good. We met them, actually, as they were scurrying around with their little aristo-larvae, getting the place decorated for Christmas. I kept my mouth shut.Unlike the Penn's who travelled the world "collecting" priceless artifacts, I came back from my travels having learned it's not what you own, it's who you become. Oh and North Carolina, Egypt told me to tell you they want their King Tut chair back from the Chinqua-Penn plantation. I must admit it is quite ironic, $20 admission to Chinqua-Penn, and I spent less than $2 to visit the whole museum of antiquities in Cairo.
The tour of the mansion was performed by a young lady who had memorized a script, but had no real knowledge of the place. I expect that the stories behind the museum pieces in that house are lost forever. And, as if it wasn't bad enough that this place was privately-owned and partially subsidized by the government via tax breaks, the house has already had several changes made "by the current owners." In other words, it doesn't even serve as a museum to show how the noble Penns lived a century ago. It's now "Here's how the Penns lived, except for the new crap this other family has added to the mix.
Yeah - TOTALLY worth $20 per person...
