On Saturday, March 11th, our pastor Katherine and her daughter, Emma Kate, along with Carol and Jim House, spent a blustery afternoon at Turner House in Historic Oberlin Village. They helped the Turner House team, Cheryl Williams and Becky Boston, revitalize the yard by raking leaves and picking up limbs. While clearing an ivy bed a flowering bush was uncovered. Katherine identified it as a Lenten Rose bush (Helleborus orientalis) which blooms between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It's a perennial flowering plant and species of the hellebore in the buttercup family. What a gift that several friends working together are rewarded with nature's touch of beauty. Thanks to their willingness to spend a bit of time to preserve this historic space, visitors and passersby may enjoy the beauty of this 134 year-old neoclassical house.
Cheryl Williams, a descendant of the Turner family has recently started the Turner House Foundation to preserve and restore the physical items and spaces of this remnant of a surviving Freedman’ Village that grew out of a free Black settlement post-Civil War. Our church is doing a Special Offering to raise funds for this important and meaningful project. You can donate here (choose Historic Turner House from the dropdown menu). Or you may write a check to Turner House and send to Cheryl Williams at 1002 Oberlin Road, Raleigh, NC 27605. If you are interested in a tour, you may contact Kathy Huffstetler or the church office.