1698 Bergen St, c. 1850s. Mr. Johnson was a wagon driver, while Mrs. Johnson was a canner. This will be the home of the Weeksville Cultural Center. h�bbd``b`�$�@, ��H�U���@�u3�5 D�X�@�� V�`�$�]�đ�L� F��Ƌ� �\ The black community in Weeksville developed its own churches, a school, an orphanage, a cemetery, an old age home, an African-American benevolent society, and one of the first African-American newspapers, the Freedman's Torchlight. hޤ�_k�0ſJ�A��D�:i6�us >���ڤ4q����M�s���ASnn��n�:��%��`��x#l���Έ�2�R_' �3�肗��x�.�=�9FW9�4��JI3����}����=Z�0w���mh �d����"���H|��@�Z�mEj�mnl���VO���%X���Q}����p�9��h~�-�e\k� In 2001, Pamela Green took over as executive administrator of the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford Stuyvesant History.
Weeksville Heritage Center Begins Critical Preservation Work on the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses with Nearly $400,000 in Philanthropic Support PR Newswire BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 1, … Our group was eight strong.
I had walked past several joints on Utica, but by this point I felt I didn’t have enough time to get to any of them and back in time.
The Preservation League of New York State 2006. The town was unique in that it reported the highest number of black owned properties and businesses. (For the duplex, the Weeksville Heritage Center has narrowed the list of possible families down to five.) The Society purchased the Hunterfly Road houses in 1973. He was able to initiate an archeological survey under the aegis of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth in Action anti-poverty program. Ours went for 75. Four wooden houses remain along the old Hunterfly Road, within the boundaries of what was once Weeksville, a nineteenth-century free black community that is now known as Bedford-Stuyvesant. All rights reserved. [3], The museum's main exhibit is the Hunterfly Road Historic District, a national historic district. The site is managed by the Weeksville Society, a historical society that maintains the 12,400-square-foot (1,150 m2) site comprising the historic Hunterfly Houses and an open grassy area. People: Eugene L. Armbusters, Pamela Green, Joseph Haynes, James Hurley, Above: Hunterfly Road Houses; Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, Archives, Personal Files, Ephemera & Oral Histories, The New York Preservation Archive Project.
She had come from Oakland to take this position because she was drawn to the location’s history and to the mission of the Center. Joan Maynard, artist and Brooklyn resident, became heavily involved in trying to safeguard the houses from potential destruction. 1968: The Hunterfly Road Houses are discovered by Pratt Institute professor James Hurley and pilot Joseph Haynes while doing an aerial survey over Bedford-Stuyvesant for a neighborhood workshop, June 23, 1970: Three houses are designated New York City Landmarks: 1700 Bergen Street, 1702-04 Bergen Street, and 1706-08 Bergen Street, July 21, 1970: 1698 Bergen Street is designated a New York City Landmark, 1971: The houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1993: A new building was constructed to replace the 1865 house that was destroyed in a 1990s fire, 2005: The houses are opened as an interactive museum, showcasing the many significant periods of the once prosperous, independent African American community of Weeksville, In 1968, James Hurley, a Pratt Institute professor, had been conducting a neighborhood workshop in Bedford-Stuyvesant. These houses were also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. It sounded too good to be true. Everyone was engaged and knowledgeable. They had collaborated on creating a walking tour of the area that was sponsored by the Museum of the City of New York.
It also had the second “colored” school in Brooklyn, formed in the 1840s.7 During the Draft Riots, Weeksville became a safe haven for African Americans fleeing Manhattan. It is dedicated to the preservation of Weeksville, one of America's first free black communities during the 19th century. The crew was preparing gardens for the spring. After the rediscovery, Hurley learned that a block of houses bounded by Troy Avenue, Pacific Street, Schenectady Avenue, and Dean Street were about to be cleared to build new city housing under the Model Cities Program. 232 East 11th Street Houses on Hunterfly Road, 1698 Bergen Street. Community members in addition to students of P.S. Weeksville was … The search for Historic Weeksville began in 1968 in a Pratt Neighborhood College workshop on Brooklyn and New York City neighborhoods led by James Hurley. There was a rock-band rehearsing inside. I didn’t have anyone to join me, or even to take my picture. Help NYPAP document and celebrate NYC’s preservation movement. It is very spartan, with uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs and a few knick-knacks about.
The children of Public School 243 (later renamed the Weeksville School) started the campaign Pennies for Weeksville, while the neighborhood raised funds by having bake sales and a history fair.18 The act of rediscovering Weeksville in many ways served to bind the community as they uncovered the roots of their rich past.
[2] Weeksville is a historic settlement of national significance and one of the few remaining historical sites of pre-Civil War African-American communities.
This will be the home of the Weeksville Cultural Center. The blue border is its boundary at its peak (c. 1900). %PDF-1.6 %���� The houses definitely pre-date the closing of the road and have been found, by examination of 19th century maps and atlases of Brooklyn, to have been built in conformity to the line of Hunterfly Road. 243 petitioned at a New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission public hearing to designate the buildings as landmarks.16 In 1970, the four houses were individually listed as New York City Landmarks, further protecting the houses from urban renewal. The overcast skies had given way to sunshine. The Heritage Center focuses on tours, arts and crafts, literacy and historical preservation programs for public-school students. She said to us, ‘You are not the only ones going through this.’ HDC included us in an enormous community”, Erika Petersen: West End Preservation Society, "HDC has begun a series of projects to highlight the Bronx's architectural and cultural history. Residents gradually developed the Weeksville Project as a legally incorporated entity, The Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History, generally known as The Weeksville Society.
I don't put everything on the blog. These four houses serve as a portal to 19th century life in Weeksville. It was. I took the 3 to the Utica Av stop and walked seven blocks north on Utica Av, then east on Bergen. It was a thrill to be in the presence of a person who loves what she does. New York, NY 10003 Weeksville Heritage Center Begins Critical Preservation Work on the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses with Nearly $400,000 in Philanthropic SupportPR NewswireBROOKLYN, N. 1, 2020Pivotal Support Underwritten by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Express and the New York Landmarks ConservancyBROOKLYN Four wooden houses remain along the old Hunterfly Road, within the boundaries of what was once Weeksville, a nineteenth-century free black community that is now known as Bedford-Stuyvesant. It consists of four contributing residential buildings, erected no earlier than the 1860s, within the 19th-century free Black community of Weeksville. It was almost entirely financed with city money, and extends Weeksville's offering to a broader spectrum of the community. Bronx Music Heritage Center, Co-Artistic Director, "Welcome2TheBronx is grateful for the advocacy done by the Historic Districts Council on behalf of the people of The Bronx. On Brooklyn neighborhoods, urban exploration, and livable streets.
There were five women at work when I walked in. )g{�(��8�K�F�{�*��r� The houses are, for the time being, dwarfed by a huge construction site. New York City Landmark Designation Report, 21 July 1970. The houses at 1698 and 1700 Bergen Street are two-and-one-half stories tall and three bays wide.
Weeksville hosts many events throughout the summer, including a concert-series in July. 0
He launched an archaeological excavation one block from James Weeks' 1830s house in order to glean any more historical information about Weeksville.13 They recovered old photographs, clothing, ceramic and glass fragments.
Weeksville is a historic settlement of national significance and one of the few remaining historical sites … The revitalization, and the archaeological potential, was part of the vision of Joan B. Maynard, among the first to recognize the contribution that archaeology could make to an urban revitalization program. The designation allows the Center to receive significant capitol to fund operating costs from the Department of Cultural Affairs. It is made up with turn-of-the-century amenities: a piano! One woman, a teacher on spring break, gave a thorough explanation of the 1863 riots, down to the amount of money rich persons could pay to escape the draft. [6], In 2019, the Center launched an emergency crowdfunding campaign due to budget shortfalls.
I had floundered prior to my involvement with this invaluable organization.”, Fern Luskin: Lamartine Place Historic District; Friends of Lamartine Place & Gibbons Underground Railroad Site, “HDC provided guidance and shared information during that process—we knew which Council members were going one way or another and we changed a few minds. A 1906 article in the New York Age, recalling the earlier period, said that James Weeks, a stevedore and a respected member of the community, "owned a handsome dwelling at Schenectady and Atlantic Avenues."
Here’s what I drew while I was standing in the house: I make no guarantees as to the accuracy of the dimensions. h�b```a``R��B ���OX0���a�-�0X���i^ � 0�0�009 չ]`���U��"Z< X�$�,ֲo��� ��6H� =� In 1838, James Weeks, an African American, bought a plot of land from Henry C. Thompson (another free African American) in the Ninth Ward of central Brooklyn. endstream endobj 17 0 obj <> endobj 18 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/Type/Page>> endobj 19 0 obj <>stream Eventually, the community was able to raise enough funds to fully rehabilitate the houses. Click below to get them hot off the press!