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In June 1982, Conway Twitty spent more than $3.5 million to open Twitty City in Hendersonville, Tennessee, inviting nearly 300,000 fans a year right into his own front yard. While most eighties superstars built gated estates to stay out of sight, Conway turned nine acres into a shared family neighborhood. His Southern Colonial mansion stood at the center, surrounded by four houses for his children, Michael, Kathy, Joni, and Jimmy. Visitors walked past flower beds shaped like his signature Twitty Bird and through the Twitty Bird Showcase, a multimedia exhibit tracing his journey from Harold Jenkins in the Mississippi Delta to country music stardom. Advisors and fellow artists warned him that bringing crowds to his porch would cost him all his privacy. Conway insisted that everyday fans had paid for the property with every concert ticket and record they bought, leaving him no right to shut an iron gate in their faces. Inside the gift shops, his mother, Velma, and his children greeted guests in person. On days off from touring, Conway regularly stepped outside in jeans and a t-shirt to prune the rose bushes in his yard. Fans who had saved for years to drive across state lines often found the singer stopping right at the fence to wave, chat, and sign autographs like an old neighbor. From Thanksgiving through Christmas, he lit the complex with hundreds of thousands of bulbs so working families had a warm holiday gathering place. Maintaining the grounds and a large staff created heavy financial pressure late in his life, yet he kept Twitty City open so distant travelers would not be turned away. When Conway passed away suddenly on tour in June 1993, thousands of fans brought flowers and candles to the entrance in Hendersonville, lining the same walkways where he had welcomed them home for more than a decade.

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When Conway Twitty opened the gates of Twitty City in Hendersonville, Tennessee, in June 1982, he turned a nine-acre residential tract into a $3.5 million complex where nearly 300,000 visitors a year walked straight through his family’s daily life.

While most country music stars of the 1980s retreated behind security walls, the singer born Harold Lloyd Jenkins in Friars Point, Mississippi, designed an estate where the public sidewalk ran past his own front lawn. His red-brick Colonial mansion stood at the center of the grounds, flanked by separate homes built for his four adult children, Michael, Kathy, Joni, and Jimmy, along with living quarters for his mother, Velma.

To make the property work as both a residence and a full-scale tourist venue, Twitty placed his family on the company payroll and turned daily operations into a shared household business. Velma and the children worked inside the gift shops, greeted tour buses at the curb, and sold souvenirs ranging from commemorative bells to a family cookbook compiled by his second wife, Mickey.

Advisors and fellow performers had warned him that inviting busloads of strangers onto his property would strip away any remaining privacy. Twitty rejected the warnings, maintaining that everyday listeners had paid for the brick and acreage through years of concert tickets and record sales, leaving him no right to lock an iron gate in their faces.

Inside the complex, guests walked past flower beds trimmed into the shape of his trademark Twitty Bird and entered the Twitty Bird Showcase, a multimedia museum detailing his path from 1950s rock-and-roll hits to country stardom. Adjacent to the grounds, the site expanded alongside the Music Village USA pavilion, where fans attended live summer shows and holiday concerts.

Whenever he was home between tour dates, Twitty stepped out into his yard in jeans and a t-shirt to prune his rose bushes in full view of the walkways. Travelers who had saved for years to make the drive to Sumner County regularly found the singer walking over to the fence to wave, talk, and sign autographs like a longtime neighbor.

From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, the estate became a regional gathering spot lit by hundreds of thousands of Christmas bulbs, an animated nativity scene, and caroling inside the pavilion. Keeping the sprawling grounds, the light displays, and a large full-time staff running year-round created heavy financial strain later in the decade, yet Twitty refused to shut the gates on fans who had traveled across state lines to see him.

That open-door arrangement lasted until June 5, 1993, when Twitty collapsed after performing in Branson, Missouri, and died in a Springfield hospital of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at age 59. Within hours of the announcement, thousands of mourners arrived at the Hendersonville entrance, laying flowers and candles along the same brick paths where he had greeted them for eleven years.

Behind the scenes, the family compound quickly faced a legal crisis triggered by an outdated will drafted before Twitty’s marriage to his third wife, Delores “Dee” Henry. Under Tennessee law, his widow was entitled to a one-third share of the estate, setting off a protracted probate dispute with his four children over the management of the business, their company salaries, and the homes on the property.

Unable to settle the debts and competing claims while keeping the attraction running, the court ordered a complete liquidation of the estate in 1994. Twitty’s children were forced to vacate the houses their father had built for them, and Velma died just days before a three-day public auction took place under white tents on the lawn in October 1994.

More than 3,000 personal items, from stage wardrobe to household furniture, were gavelled off to the highest bidders as fans and collectors filled the grounds one last time. “These things were a picture of his life,” his daughter Joni later said of watching the estate dismantled on the lawn. “It felt like daddy dying again.”

The nine-acre complex itself was sold for $3 million to the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which renamed the property Trinity Music City and converted it into television studios and a Christian music venue. The network continued displaying lavish Christmas lights and offering limited walkthroughs of the mansion for years before ending public tours entirely in July 2016.

In December 2023, a severe tornado tore through Hendersonville and damaged the historic structures, prompting the property’s owners to propose demolishing Twitty’s home for a redevelopment project. After Joni Ryles and local residents spoke out before city officials in January 2024, developers revised their plans and agreed to preserve and restore the red-brick mansion where Conway once stood by the fence talking with his fans.

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