Jujitsu-trained suffragist Elizabeth Robins began her literary career when she began documenting her life in her diary in 1876 at age 14. Her diaries extend until her death in 1952, so cover the Gilded Age through the post-WWII era. Her diary is filled with her famous friends, including such names as Henry James, Christabel Pankhurst, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, William Stead, and Marion Lea.

A successful actress in the US and UK stage, she utilized her writing skills to translate Henrik Ibsen’s plays into English for production on the London stage and also wrote plays of her own. She passionately advocated for the personhood of women in an era that allowed few roles and rights to her gender.

The oldest of seven children, separated as children when their mother was institutionalized, she took on a motherly role with her siblings which she maintained for life. Her closest relationship was with her youngest brother, Raymond, and she purchased the Chinsegut Hill estate in Brooksville, Florida as a home for the two of them. 2000 acres of Chinsegut was donated to the Federal Government in 1932 as a research center and preserve and is now owned by the State of Florida and Florida A&M University.

Elizabeth loved exploring the Chinsegut grounds on foot and on horseback.