A Farm Grows in Brooklyn

Restoration and Celebration
More than thirty years were required to do the archaeological, architectural, and historical research; to raise the money; and to complete the restoration of the houses at what is now the Weeksville Heritage Center. 

In 2005, Senator Hilary Clinton addressed the crowd celebrating the opening of the restored houses. Today, visitors interact with the dwellings in a manner unusual at historic homes. As Director Pam Green says with a laugh, “We’re not quite a please-touch museum, but we are participatory and moving closer. We use inquiry-based and object-based learning. Students are invited to handle some of our artifacts.” It’s a hands-on, brains-on way of looking at how free black Americans lived in the three distinct times the houses re-create, the mid-1800s, circa 1900, and the 1930s.

If the houses draw visitors to learn the Weeksville story, a mix of other programs aims to keep people coming back. A seasonal farmers’ market on Saturdays offers fresh produce, some of it grown in the site’s kitchen gardens, in a neighborhood with limited shopping options. An annual festival in August, lectures, musical performances, and other activities welcome adults and children alike to the site.