An experienced buyer and seller of historical artifacts and natural specimens such as fossils and meteorites, Chase Pipes served as student head of the honor board while attending the Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia. After graduating from this boarding school, he matriculated at Carson Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where he studied history with plans of teaching the subject in a traditional classroom setting. Chase Pipes ultimately left Carson Newman to concentrate on a different type of historical education.