Amazing Grace

Every community across the South has one signature place — the property everyone knows, the one pointed out from the road, the best place to host a party and remembered for generations. We call the “best of the best” Legacy Sporting Estates™. Amazing Grace is one of them.

A place like this is never built fast. It takes years: the planning, the building, the slow work of getting every decision right, one season at a time. Most people who want a property of this caliber are signing up for a decade of it — and every risk that comes with it.

Or you don’t… Amazing Grace is the rare chance to skip all of that and walk into the finished thing. This is its story.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’ve been here since 1989, and it took that many years to build a place that’s beautiful. It didn’t come overnight — but we’ve enjoyed every step of the way.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

The Arrival:

You cross the road, crest the hill, and Amazing Grace opens up in front of you: fifty-seven acres of manicured pasture rolling down to spring-fed ponds, a black-roofed Morton barn catching the South Georgia light, and a Classical Revival home on the rise — the one the whole town of Boston knows simply as “the big house.”

It takes about two seconds to see this was never meant to be an ordinary horse farm.

Start with the land, because the land is what meets you first. These pastures have been grazed, dragged, fertilized, and rotated for decades, and they show it — green and holding through drought after drought, with horses and cattle moving across them. Water is the new gold. Four ponds sit among the fields, and here’s the part that matters: every one is spring-fed. Through the worst spring drought since Georgia statehood, while neighbors’ ponds dropped and ran dry, all four of these held — never pumped, never supplemented. The springs were struck the day they were dug.

“When all the neighbors’ ponds are going dry and everybody’s just looking at mine, I’m just smiling — because all four of mine are spring-fed. They will never go dry. Never.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

Mornings are the payoff. Step outside at first light, watch the fog lift off the grass with the barn dark against the sky, a new calf or colt maybe finding its legs in the cool — and you start to understand the part that can’t be photographed or appraised: this place is settled, proven, and cared for down to the last inch.

Then there’s the home on the hill — and that’s a story no future owner could ever repeat. It was built over years of searching, by an owner who answered to no budget, and we’ll come to how. But the first thing most people notice isn’t the history. It’s that, after all these years, it still looks new.

“It had been years since I’d been to the home since construction began. The first thing I noticed was how well maintained it is — how it still looks new. This is no McMansion. This is like looking at a modern-day Pebble Hill.”  — Jon Kohler

The Home — “Amazing Grace”:

Here is the question every buyer at this level eventually asks: why not just build my own? Walk this home and the answer becomes obvious. You couldn’t — not this one. Not anymore.

This is a 9,603-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 5.5-bath residence built with no budget and no deadline, by an owner who spent years chasing exactly the right piece for every room. Beyond the main home, the pond house offers and additional 2-bedrooms and 2-baths. What that means for the next family is simple: the searching is over. There is nothing left to source, specify, redesign, or wait on. Years of decisions have already been made — and made well. Very well.

Consider what is actually in this house, and where it came from:

• Crown molding in every room — so much that when the truck arrived, they unhooked the trailer and left it in the yard because the whole semi was full of it. There is not a window, doorframe, ceiling, or baseboard in the house it doesn’t wrap.
• A 10-foot-by-10-foot chandelier commissioned from the Dominican Republic, 9 month build, delivered by hand and assembled on-site over three days, then leveled with a transit on the fourth — the piece every guest asks about before they’ve finished walking in.
• Matching hand-built chandeliers by Thomasville artisan Robin Lampkin of The Brass Ring, including a paired set over the formal dining room, plus genuine 1800s chandeliers in the kitchen and dining room so rare she keeps a single spare globe — because there is no way to source another.
• Front doors built in Honduras. Marble floors chosen in Tennessee, seen in person before they were ever installed. Hand-scrolled fireplace work found on the road and brought home.
• Five gas fireplaces, whole-home automation, push-button and party-scene lighting, electric blinds, and televisions hidden behind raised artwork — so the house works for you, not the other way around.

That is the part no future owner can recreate: not the square footage, but the time. Years of searching and the access to materials…and a private jet with no questions asked and no budget discussed.

“I would hate to know that I had to build this home all over again. I went all over this country shopping for the things I put in this home. I don’t know what it would take to build a home like this anymore — it has that many features in it.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

“This home reminds me of the quality of what the Northern industrialists built when they came to this area in the early 20th century — some of our most outstanding architecture. They had enormous wealth and a lot of time on their hands, and they built to impress. That combination is what you see here.”  — Jon Kohler

THE KITCHEN:

A kitchen/den combo sets the tone for the entire house. This kitchen was done right, was designed by someone who actually cooks — and entertains constantly. A true double-bar layout with den combo/space anchors it: one bar to cook from, one to serve from, so a guest leaning in to talk is never leaning over the food. Around it, double ovens with a warming drawer, double refrigerators, a walk-in pantry, twin ice makers, and a wet bar with a wine cooler.

“I really put a lot of thought, a lot of effort into this kitchen and went above and beyond, because I cook a lot — but I also entertain a lot. My kitchen works well, and I just dread having to leave this kitchen.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

BEYOND THE KITCHEN:

The home unfolds with a scale you rarely see built today. A grand double staircase rises from an oversized foyer — a favorite for weddings and family photographs. The owner’s suite is its own retreat: sitting room, gas fireplace, spa bath, twin closets, a private den, a built-in jewelry case, and a private elevator serving the level. Elsewhere, a theater room, a cigar room paneled floor-to-ceiling in wood in the old plantation tradition, two laundry rooms, and a domed great room with acoustics so good the owner has staged live bands on the walkway above it.

And then the detail that says everything about how this home was built: the antique stained-glass windows in the hallway, salvaged from a library in upstate New York. The original cracks are still in the glass — left there on purpose.

“I had somebody come in and want to fill in all the broken places. I said, ‘No — that’s what makes it original. That’s what gives it the character.’”  — Lila Jones, Owner

The Story Behind Amazing Grace:

Every great house has a story. This one starts with a man who didn’t sleep.

Kenny Jones never went to college — the only one of his family who didn’t. He worked for GE, then came home to Perry, Florida and started building boat trailers, until the interest rates of the early ’90s wiped out his contracts. So one night, broke of work and short on answers, he lay awake fixated on something small: the lid of his truck toolbox wouldn’t stay shut. By morning he had it. He injected foam into the lid to weight it closed, patented the design so no one could copy it, and built the first few dozen by hand.

He couldn’t afford a proper emblem, so he stuck leftover boat-trailer badges on them — a little sailfish. People started calling it “the fish box.” UWS took off. At its peak the company was shipping around 850 toolboxes a day, and they earned a reputation simple enough to trust: they were built to last. You can still find them on trucks all over the country and still built in Perry.

“The character ‘Rip” on the Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch has a UWS tool box. Kenny would have appreciated “Rip.” — Jon Kohler

Then Kenny did the thing that made everything after it possible. He sold the business — right as construction on the home was getting underway. And he went to the contractor with one instruction.

“He went to the builder and said, ‘I love her so much that I’m not going to keep her on the budget. Whatever she wants, she gets.’”  — Lila Jones, Owner

What followed is the home you’ve just walked. Lila had grown up on this very farm, and now she had the means to make it extraordinary — so she did, piece by piece, trip by trip, finish by finish. The molding that filled a semi. The chandelier from the Dominican Republic. The doors from Honduras, the marble from Tennessee, the stained glass from a torn-down library in New York. None of it was bought off a plan. All of it was chosen.

The name came from Kenny, too. As he once put it to his mother, it was by the grace of God that he could build something so amazing. It stuck. So did the spirit behind it.

“He loved me so much. He wanted me to have whatever it was I wanted in this home — to make it everything it is today, to make it an Amazing Grace.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

Kenny has been gone more than a decade now. For eleven of those years Lila has kept this place by herself — and somehow made it better. That is the part you feel before you can name it: this was never just built. It was loved into what it is.

The Land:

Fifty-seven acres of manicured pasture and woodland wrap the home, in a pocket of Boston, Georgia known for some of the richest farmland and best hunting plantations in the country. This is working ground, and it has been worked right.

The pastures didn’t get this way by luck. They’ve been planted, rotated, dragged, and fertilized for decades — the manure worked back into the soil so the grass feeds itself — and they’ve held their color through drought after drought while the country around them browned out. Horses and cattle graze across them year-round. It’s the kind of land that looks effortless precisely because so much care has gone into it.

Mornings are when it gets you. Step out at first light and watch the fog lift off the grass, the pastures coming awake, maybe a calf or colt born overnight already finding its legs in the cool.

“There’s nothing any prettier than seeing the newborn horses — the colts, the fillies, or the newborn calves. The sun’s coming up, there’s the brightness of the day, and a calf has been born overnight. It’s just precious. There’s nothing to describe it any better than precious.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

And then there’s the matter of who — and what — is around you, because the setting is part of what you’re buying. This is farm country and plantation country: neighbors are few and far between, the land between them is growing row crops, pine and wild bobwhite quail. Amazing Grace shares a border with Aucilla Run Plantation, placing it squarely among the storied sporting estates of the Red Hills. It’s quiet, it’s private, and it’s the kind of place where the few who do come down the road are the kind you’re glad to know.

That’s the trade this land offers, and for the right family it isn’t a trade at all: total privacy without isolation. Room to breathe, with people who’d still drop everything for you a mile down the road.

“The Social Storm ® Properties score here is off the charts. This is exactly the kind of place you and your family would go during the next pandemic…or worse. We trademarked this term over 15 years ago as more people recognized a need to have a safe, comfortable place to go during bad times and recreation in good. It turns out the ones that score the highest, like Amazing Grace, are incredible hedges and commonly placed in investment portfolios. However, unlike gold and silver they are looked to appreciate during good times, not only uncertain times.” Jon Kohler

The Barn:

This is the one that stops people. It stopped the Morton salesman, too.

When it came time to build, Lila wanted the barn to match the home — brick base, black roof, the whole thing of a piece with the big house on the hill. The Morton rep told her you couldn’t put a black roof on a barn in South Georgia. She told him she’d be the first. She was right: its incredible. The year it was finished the barn landed a prestigious position on the Morton calendar.

What sits under that roof is a genuine turnkey equestrian facility, not a hobby barn. Eight stalls, automatic waterers, a tack room, a full kitchen and bath, ridge fans pulling the heat up and out, and four-stall covered trailer parking. It is set up to actually work.

And it does work. Lila’s granddaughter runs it as a real operation — training horses, and taking in client horses for rehabilitation: picking an animal up after surgery in Gainesville, icing the leg for days, keeping it for months to bring it back to condition, then returning it sound to its owner. Whatever the next owner has in mind — boarding, training, rehab, or simply keeping their own horses well — the infrastructure is already proven under load.

“That’s not a typical barn — I was a little spoiled. I just can’t compliment the barn enough.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

A Home That’s Already Done:

This is the whole point of Amazing Grace.

A property like this normally takes years to reach — the planning, the building, the slow grind of getting every system right. Here, those years are behind you. The roof is new. The well is new. The driveway was recently asphalted. Four HVAC systems are serviced spring and fall, the irrigation is managed, the place is pressure-washed on a schedule, and three full-time staff keep every inch of it manicured and ready for the next wedding or party.

This isn’t a house that looks finished. It’s a house that’s genuinely been kept — with love by an owner who treats maintenance the way she treats everything else here.

“It’s kind of like changing the oil in your car — don’t run it till it turns black. It works better to do it on a schedule. My place is beautiful because it is absolutely manicured. I’m a very meticulous person.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

And that condition is the part that surprises even the people who sell estates for a living.

“I hadn’t been here since Kenny asked me to meet him midway through construction. He’s been gone over a decade, and Lila has lived here alone. I’ll be 100% candid: I did not expect this property to be in the shape it’s in. It’s a testament to how it was built — and a role model for how to take care of an estate.”  — Jon Kohler

“One thing your actually buying with a home like this is certainty. Uncertainty is the #1 killer of value. You don’t bear construction risks, supply chain issues, contractor issues and you don’t have to deal with fixing the things that should have worked on day 1…but didn’t. All that’s done. All that is saves the most valuable asset you have which is your time.” Jon Kohler

What’s left for the next owner isn’t the building. It isn’t the fixing. It isn’t the waiting. It’s the enjoying — starting the day you get the keys.

A Place Waiting for Your Family:

For eleven years, one woman has kept this home beautiful — not for a sale, but because she loves it. Now she’s ready for what comes next, and her hope has nothing to do with the house itself.

It’s that the pool fills up with grandkids again. That the great room fills with people. That the laughter that’s lived in these walls for three decades carries on under a new family.

“I have a dream and a hope that that large swimming pool out there can be full of grandkids again — that this large home can be full of joy and laughter, like I’ve had over the years. I’ll never, ever forget this place, for what it holds dear to me.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

She’s not worried about who buys it. She’s certain about one thing only:

“There’s no way they can move into this place and it not bring joy to them. It’s that kind of place. It’s an Amazing Grace place.”  — Lila Jones, Owner

The Legacy:

Amazing Grace is more than land, and more than a home. It’s what happens when one family spends thirty-some years — and refuses every shortcut — to build a place exactly right. That’s not something money buys quickly. It’s something time builds slowly. And it’s finished.

This is the epitome of a Legacy Sporting Estate™ — and the rarest kind of opportunity, because the one thing it gives you is the one thing you can’t purchase: all those years, already spent.

“This is the kind of place we all dream of, but very few can afford. And for those who can, time — not money — is the limiting factor between you and your dream. You can spend a year planning. Two years building. Risk the wrong builder, cost overruns, supply-chain delays — and risk your marriage along the way. This might not be your dream location — but if you’re considering a home of this caliber, I’d tell you to seriously consider Amazing Grace.”  — Jon Kohler

Your Path to Amazing Grace:

You don’t have to choose between the dream and the time it usually takes. Here’s how it works:

1. See it first. Watch the film and request the property book — every sunrise, pasture, pond, and room, before you ever leave home.
2. Walk it with us. Schedule a private tour and experience the property the way it actually lives.
3. Move into a finished legacy. Skip the three years and the risk. Start enjoying it the day you get the keys.

Schedule your private showing.

Jon Kohler & Associates  ·  (850) 508-2999  ·  JonKohler.com

OFFERED BY JON KOHLER & ASSOCIATES

For more than three decades, Jon Kohler & Associates has been the South’s leading authority on quail plantations, ranches, and the region’s finest homes and sporting estates. Founder Jon Kohler was named “The Plantation Broker” by Garden & Gun, has earned the land industry’s highest honor (twice) National Recreational Land Broker of the Year,  has  sold the highest-priced plantation in Southwest Georgia history  and is licensed across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina The firm’s marketing has been recognized for storytelling that brings the history and character of these properties to life.

Acreage is approximate. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed; buyers should independently verify all details.