City officials and Brooklyn cultural leaders celebrated the completion of a $4 million restoration of the historic Hunterfly Road Houses at the Weeksville Heritage Center on Friday.
The restoration preserved four wood-frame homes built in the 19th century that stand as the last remaining structures of one of the nation’s largest free Black communities before the Civil War. Construction, which wrapped up two months ahead of schedule, began in fall 2024 and wrapped in February 2026.
“Weeksville tells the story of Black New Yorkers who built freedom for themselves in a country that tried to deny them it,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “It was a sanctuary that offered safety, dignity, and opportunity in the face of economic injustice and systemic racism. It was nearly erased by urban renewal. By restoring the Hunterfly Road Houses, we are preserving not just historic buildings but a living legacy of resilience and self-determination.”
The Hunterfly Road Houses are the only African American historic site in the Northeast located on its original site. The community of Weeksville, in present-day Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, was founded in 1848 by James Weeks, a formerly enslaved man from Virginia who purchased the land with a group of free Black men. By the 1850s, Weeksville had grown to more than 500 residents, becoming a haven for Black New Yorkers seeking opportunity and safety. It also served as a refuge during periods of racist violence, including the 1863 Draft Riots in Manhattan.
Today, Weeksville Heritage Center educates the public about this history while serving as a vibrant space hosting yoga classes, arts and crafts, film screenings, exhibitions and intergenerational events that carry forward the spirit of self-determination that defined the original settlement.
As Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant face ongoing development and displacement pressures, the preservation of the Hunterfly Road Houses stands as a bastion of community memory – where everyday artifacts like spoons and hand-altered dolls, once mundane objects, now serve as sacred reminders of resilience, refuge, and the enduring power of Black self-creation, officials said.
“The restoration of the Hunterfly Road Houses is a major milestone for Weeksville and for Brooklyn’s cultural landscape,” said Dr. Raymond Codrington, president and chief executive officer of Weeksville Heritage Center.
The project restored the exterior of the houses, including the façades, siding, windows, doors and front-entry porches. The project also installed a climate-controlled storage room in the cellar of one of the homes to help preserve historical items. Upgrades also include new plumbing, exterior lighting, an upgraded fire alarm system equipped with smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and a new CCTV monitoring system.
Funding for the project was provided by the Mayor’s Office, the Brooklyn Borough President, and the New York City Council.
