Bicentennial Farm Profile – Turpin Farms

The farm today. Robert’s children, Pam Fischer Simmons and Robert “Turp” Fischer, manage the 700 acre-farm, where they raise nursery crops, sod, corn and soybeans. The farm, located in the Ohio River bottom, has 25 to 30 feet deep topsoil that is regularly re-generated with river bottom soil, so providing crops nutrients is never a problem. The farm caters to the urban community surrounding it with agri-tourism and cashes in on the “corn maze craze.” This year, they will recreate the bicentennial barn logo for the maze. 

The farm in the beginning. When the farm was purchased, it was woodland and the timber was cleared and burned. Initially, the farm was a grain farm, and corn, wheat, and whiskey were the main crops. (There were two distilleries on the property.) The family raised traditional crops on the farm until the 1960s when the farm was transformed into a sod farm and greenhouse operation. 

Notable ancestors and accomplishments. Phillip’s mother, Mary Jefferson Turpin, was Thomas Jefferson’s aunt. Another Mary, Phillip’s wife (Mary Smith) left for some time to go along with her parents to set up a farm in the west. They made it as far as Missouri, where they chose a farm that “looks exactly like the Ohio farm.” This is also part of Turpin Farms today. The Missouri farm is also about 700 acres and continues to raise grain crops and beef cattle. 

“Quotable quote.” “We fight (development) as best as we can.” Robert Fischer on preserving his farmland in Cincinnati.