Image description: Mrs. Tulia Turner sitting on the railing of the porch of her home, the John T. and Mary Turner House in Oberlin Village, Raleigh, NC May 25, 1983.
Image credit: N&O negative collection, State Archives of North Carolina.

"Oberlin Village emerged in the 1860s as one of Raleigh’s first freedman’s villages. By 1880 the neighborhood had developed into a thriving community with around 150 Black owned households. The area boasted churches, retail stores, a butcher, and eventually, in 1892, Latta University.

The house seen here began as a smaller one story structure built around 1889 and was later enlarged about 1910. The addition of the second story with its wrap around porch and imposing portico with Queen Anne details reflected the growing stature of the Turner family.

At the time, John T. Turner operated a grocery store in Oberlin and by 1915 he added a shoe shop on Hargett Street to his list of ventures. After John Turner’s death in 1923, his son John Jerome Turner inherited the house and his businesses.

The next year, John married Tulia (seen here) who had come to Raleigh to attend St. Augustine Junior College, now St. Augustine University. Just after their marriage, John and Tulia moved into the Turner House and cared for Mary Turner until her death in 1950.

After John Jerome Turner’s death in 1971, Tulia remained in the house with her son John V. Turner, continually staving off relentless offers from developers, until her death in 2000 at the age of 97.

The house is a designated Raleigh Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains with descendants of the Turner family. "

Image source: NO.5-25.1983.turnerhouse
From the N&O negative collection, State Archives of North Carolina.