Walk beneath ancient pines and past prairies on the hills above Brooksville

A gentleman from South Carolina, Colonel Pearson, staked his claim to the high rolling hills north of what would become Brooksville in 1842, and built a fine manor house prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. By 1924, the manor and its lands passed into the hands of Colonel Raymond Robins, who dubbed it Chinsegut Hill after the Inuit word for “spirit of lost things,” years after he returned from the Klondike with enough gold to settle down and live a life of ease. Mrs. Robins loved gardening, and created extensive formal gardens around the house. A social economist, Colonel Robins moved in the upper echelons of politics and business and entertained folks such as Thomas Edison, J.C. Penney, and Harold Ickes at the mansion.

By 1932, the Robins donated their land to the federal government as a wildlife refuge and agricultural experimental station. Among the treasures on the rolling hills were 400 acres of virgin longleaf pine, plus broad open prairies and dark hammocks. After Colonel Robins death in 1954, the mansion passed on to the University of South Florida, which now uses it as a retreat and conference center. The surrounding tracts of land went to the uses for which they’d been bequeathed: agricultural and conservation, with portions going to Withlacoochee State Forest, the University of Florida, the USDA, and, most recently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). As one of their more unique public lands, the Chinsegut WEA is closed to hunting. But with up to 8 miles of hiking across two tracts with three trailheads, it’s a great destination for Florida hikers and birders.