Our goal is to refurbish and remodel the house into a warm, beautiful and secure family retreat, one that honors the past while preparing for the future, and then to grow the land around it into a place for every generation.
The family homeplace sits on Lee Davis Circle in Utica, in Hinds County, Mississippi: a single-story home on open land with a pond behind the house and livestock on the property. Its agricultural classification keeps the land working and the taxes manageable.
Most of the work is done by our own family. Contractors handle what requires a license; everyone else brings their hands, their gifts and their support.
The first step toward preserving our legacy: making the house warm, beautiful and secure.
In progress · funded through heir contributions and the Memorial Day 2026 family work weekend
Expanding the house so more of the family can gather and stay.
40% funded · completion targeted for late November 2026
These ideas are a starting point, not a decision. Each phase is shaped by what the family wants for Turnerosa, and each gets a budget and timeline once the family agrees on scope.
Turn the land around the house into a place for reunions, worship and celebration.
Strengthen the property’s agricultural use, the reason for the reduced tax rate.
A homeplace where any Turner household can come and stay, now and for decades.
For years, the seven heirs have carried the homeplace: the taxes, the repairs, the hard decisions. The Legacy Circle asks the next generation, their children and grandchildren, to carry it with them. At least 30 of us, each committing $30 or more a month by automatic draft, is about a dollar a day per person. Together it keeps the lights on, the taxes paid and the vision moving.
Before any building happens, Turnerosa costs about $4,490 every year in taxes, utilities, internet for the cameras, security and upkeep. Those bills come due whether or not anyone remembers to give.
Leaning on the original siblings for everything puts the whole homeplace on a few shoulders. Spread across 30 or more of their children and grandchildren, the load gets lighter for everyone.
One-time appeals come in waves and leave gaps, like the shortfall projected this November. Monthly drafts let the family plan a budget, schedule each phase and never miss a tax deadline.
Black families lost about 90% of their farmland in the last century, often when bills went unpaid and no one planned ahead. Joining the Circle is how the next generation takes ownership of the land before it’s handed down. Why this land matters
| Cost | Per year |
|---|
From the family’s 2026–27 operating budget. Homeowner’s insurance isn’t budgeted yet and would add to this.
The family votes on the final split. The Legacy Circle is separate from reunion dues.
At 30 members, one year of the Circle covers every yearly cost, sets aside about $1,080 in reserve and sends about $5,230 toward the next phase. In five years that’s $54,000 for the homeplace.
Tell us which ideas matter most to you, what’s missing, and how you’d like to help.