An empty Rockingham County estate may be getting a new owner.
The Chinqua-Penn Plantation has been vacant for more than a year.
The estate was once run by the UNC system as a tourist attraction, but the high cost of maintenance led the state to sell the property.
It was bought by tobacco entrepreneur Calvin Phelps in 2006.
But Phelps soon ran into trouble of his own – he was jailed on federal fraud charges and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
The house went into foreclosure, and Phelps lost it in September 2013.
Now there may be a buyer for the historic property. The News & Record of Greensboro reports that an undisclosed buyer has expressed interest in the plantation, which is on the market for $1.3 million. The potential buyer's plans for the property have not been made public.
The mansion was built in the 1920s by tobacco heirs Jeff and Betsy Penn.
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