The Conservancy joined the celebration at Weeksville in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on February 27th for the completion of an 18-month, City-funded restoration of the historic Hunterfly Road Houses.
The celebration drew several current and past public officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Conservancy President Peg Breen and Charlotte Crum of our Historic Properties Fund were pleased to help mark this long-awaited infusion of City funding.
Weeksville was one of the most important pre-Civil War Free Black settlements in the country. Founded in 1838, it once had hundreds of residents with its own schools, churches, and merchants. The Freedman’s Torchlight, one of the first African American newspapers, was created here. The small, wooden homes on Hunterfly Road are all that remain.
In 1968, local preservationists rediscovered the surviving houses and fought to preserve them for future generations. They were designated a New York City Landmark in 1970 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
The Conservancy has worked with Weeksville for more than 30 years. We’ve given almost $100,000 in grants for earlier repair work on the houses and helped Weeksville obtain a “Save America’s Treasurers” grant during the Clinton Administration. Weeksville founder, Joan Maynard, was on the Conservancy Board for several years before her death.
