A Photo Tour of "Black Radical Brooklyn" at the Weeksville Heritage Center

With live bands and art set in a field with a beautiful garden next to great architecture AND historic houses open for tours, the opening party for “Funk, God, Jazz, and Medicine: Black Radical Brooklyn” at the Weeksville Heritage Center Saturday was pretty much the most exciting couple of hours we have experienced in Brooklyn. Enjoy the photos and try to catch some of the exhibits, which will be running at several sites around Bed Stuy and Crown Heights for a month. 

Above and below, some of the Hunterfly Road Houses, some of the earliest houses in the Weeksville free black community, established in 1838. The houses were rediscovered in the 1960s and restored. The docents didn’t give specific dates for the buildings, other than “19th century,” but the moldings and mantels in some of the houses sure looked circa-1840s to us. Unlike many later reconstructions of historic houses, these looked authentic and are worth visiting. After a hiatus of some nine months, weekday tours have resumed, the Weeksville director of programming told us. Check under the “events” section of the Weeksville Heritage Center’s website for details on upcoming weekend celebrations.

Above and below, an art installation at one of the houses made out of entirely recycled materials, and created with the help of students at Bed Stuy’s Boys and Girls High School.

Above, an entry leading into one of the Hunterfly Road houses. Interior photos of the historic house museums are not allowed, which is why we haven’t posted any.