1698 Bergen Street, between Rochester and Buffalo Avenues The four Hunterfly Road houses date from 1840 to 1883. The houses were continually inhabited, primarily by African Americans, from their construction until their acquisition in 1968 by the Weeksville Heritage Center. Upon leaving Weeksville Heritage Center, walk west towards Rochester Avenue and then to 1635 Bergen Street.

1635 Bergen Street, between Rochester and Utica Avenues This is the first African American church in all of New York City to be built independently from the ground up. Previously, black churches were established in pre-existing church buildings. Black and white abolitionists founded the church as an example of interracial faith in action in 1850. The original church was located on a hill in the neighboring free black community of Carrville. When the church’s location proved inconvenient for some members to travel to, the church split and the black congregation moved to this site. In 1894, the community built “Old Berean,” the older building in this complex. The church continued to grow, and in 1961, the new sanctuary was built. Today, “Old Berean” is used for church functions and ministries. At Utica Avenue, turn right, walk two blocks to Pacific Street, turn left, and walk down to Schenectady Avenue. (You may notice that the avenues in this area are named after cities in upstate New York.)

Pacific Street and Schenectady Avenue James Weeks was born in New York in 1790. Unlike the other original land investors of Weeksville, he was the only one who lived here. Others followed his example, establishing Weeksville as an independent town of black residents. James Weeks’ home stood here on Pacific Street, somewhere between Schenectady and Troy Avenues. He lived here with his wife and children until his death in 1864. During the 19th century, Weeksville was a haven for African Americans, who established homes, businesses, churches, newspapers, schools, and social institutions, and shaped their own lives. In 1863, during the infamous Draft Riots, many black New Yorkers fled the chaos and racial violence of Manhattan and made their way to Weeksville, which was long established as a place of safety and refuge. At Schenectady Avenue, walk one block south, with traffic, to Dean Street.

1630 Dean Street at Schenectady Avenue The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in Weeksville in 1849. The original church was located here on the northwest corner of the intersection, where the new church building now stands. Bethel was the third African American church to be established in Brooklyn, and has had a long and proud history in this neighborhood. In 1978, they purchased the long unoccupied PS 83 building across the street to use as a sanctuary and school. This is our next stop.

1634 Dean Street at Schenectady Avenue Colored School No. 2 was founded on this site in 1839 as the African School. It was one of several independent schools founded by black educators for their children, who were not welcome in the public school system. In 1853, management of the school was taken over by the Brooklyn Board of Education and renamed Colored School No. 2, one of three segregated schools in Brooklyn. Noted educator and abolitionist Junius C. Morel served as principal for almost thirty years. In 1882, Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low appointed Philip A. White as the first African American member of the Board of Education. White disagreed with the segregated school system and worked towards integration. Colored School No. 2 was renamed PS 68 and merged with PS 83 in 1893, when it became Brooklyn’s first integrated school. This was the first and last experiment of this kind for many years. The present school building was built in the early 20th century and was called the Isaac Newton School. It was closed by the Board of Education in 1968 and sold to Bethel AME in 1978. Walk farther down Dean Street, between Schenectady and Troy Avenues.

Dean Street and Troy Avenue This block was the location for the African Civilization Society (ACS), founded in 1858 by activists Henry Highland Garnet and Martin Delany. The ACS held Christian beliefs and promoted cultural nationalism, that black people should establish their own political and cultural institutions. They initially encouraged African Americans to move to the African continent and establish systems of cotton production so as to compete with the cotton trade of the U.S. South. If the plan succeeded, they hoped, domestic cotton would be unnecessary and fast-track the end of American slavery. But the Civil War changed the organization’s focus to education. They sent teachers to educate newly emancipated men, women, and children in the South. The ACS also sponsored two publications: The People’s Journal and the Freeman’s Torchlight. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funds, the organization ceased functioning in 1869. Continue down Dean Street to the corner of Troy Avenue, by the walled MTA lot.

Dean Street and Troy Avenue This MTA bus lot was the original site of the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum. Founded in 1868 as the Brooklyn Howard Colored Orphan Asylum and Industrial School, it had the distinction of being founded by and for African Americans, one of the integral social service organizations established in Weeksville. Unlike its predecessor, the Colored Orphan Asylum in Manhattan, which was destroyed during the Draft Riots, this institution had a black board of directors and black staff. The orphanage was housed in a large brownstone and brick building. In 1911, this site closed after the organization purchased a farm on Long Island, where they intended to establish an institution similar to the Tuskegee Institute. That facility closed in 1918, and the board sponsored programs and institutions that promoted black education. In 1956, this fund was renamed the Howard Memorial Fund. The grounds here were sold to the Nassau Railroad Company, an independent streetcar company operating in Brooklyn and Queens. They tore down the orphanage and used the lot for trolley car storage and repair. The streetcar lines would eventually become part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s bus lines, and today, the lot is used for bus storage and repair. Our last two stops are a bit of a walk, but well worth it. Walk south on Troy Avenue, against traffic, past the park, five blocks down to Sterling Place. If you turn left, and walk four blocks east, to the corner of Rochester Avenue, you will find what once was the western boundary of the Citizens Union Cemetery. The cemetery is long gone. Today, it is a typical city block with early 20th–century apartment buildings.

Blocks bordered by Sterling Place, Rochester Avenue, Lincoln Place, and Ralph Avenue We often forget that where people lived, they also died and had to be buried. In 1851, almost 30 acres of land made up the Citizens Union Cemetery, which advertised that no one would be “excluded from sepulture within its borders, on account of complexion.” In spite of its integration policy, the cemetery became a burial place primarily for people of color. The fees were minimal, with a charge for opening and closing the graves. In cases of extreme poverty, that charge was often waived. As a result, the cemetery suffered from severe financial problems. In 1869, the cemetery sold off all of its land to the city of Brooklyn, which intended to use part of it for Eastern Parkway. Citizens Union trustees bought an acre of land in Cypress Hills, and moved all of the existing graves to their new resting place. There was a public outcry when it was discovered during construction that a few bodies had not been moved and were unceremoniously dumped instead on the side of the road. The coffins were then removed to a new cemetery. Cypress Hills Cemetery now has all of Citizens Union’s records. If you’ve walked up to Sterling and Rochester, walk one block south to St. Johns Place, turn right and walk five blocks down St. Johns to the corner of Kingston Avenue. If you’ve skipped Citizens Union, you should still be on the corner of Dean Street and Troy Avenue. Walk south on Troy, past the park, to St. Johns Place, six blocks. Turn right on St. Johns, and walk down two blocks to Kingston Avenue.

1095 St. Johns Place at Kingston Avenue In 1869, the Zion Home for Colored Aged was founded near here, on Buffalo Avenue. The home was well supported by the black community and was also one of the favored charities of Brooklyn’s white philanthropic community. By 1895, the original home was far too small, and fundraising was undertaken for this structure. The building was designed by George Stone, a local architect, who donated his services. The cornerstone was laid in 1899, and the building finished the next year. Booker T. Washington was one of the speakers at the opening ceremonies. Today, this is the Brooklyn Home for the Aged, open to anyone who chooses to live here. Several additions have been made to the original building, which is also used as a community gathering space for block associations and other meetings. Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the first African American woman to receive a medical degree in New York State, served as the doctor here for the first twenty years of the institution’s operation. She was born in Weeksville in 1847, the daughter of Sylvanus Smith, one of the original seven land investors in Weeksville. Her sister, Sarah J. Garnet, was the first female African American school principal in Brooklyn, becoming the principal of Brooklyn’s Grammar School No. 4 in 1863. After the death of her first husband, Sarah married Henry Highland Garnet, a prominent abolitionist.