Van Cortlandt House Museum – Black Owned Farms in the Bronx

From the VC House Museum Facebook Page today, Dec. 19, 2024:

Few people realize that a number of Black-owned farms existed in the Bronx even before the abolition of slavery in 1827. Dennis Heady was a mixed race man who owned an exceptionally large parcel at what is now the intersection of Eastchester Avenue and Pelham Parkway. Heady was a true pioneer, owning land as early as 1780, a time when virtually all Black people in the Bronx were still in bondage. The child of his former enslaver and an enslaved woman named Rose, Dennis and his family steadily developed and enlarged his land to the point that it was worth roughly ten times what he had paid initially.
This hospital parking lot is actually so much more: the site of Dennis Heady’s farm.
Join us on Thursday, January 9th at 6 PM (at the museum or virtually) for historian Keith Doherty’s talk on Black-owned Farms in the Bronx in the Early 1800s. A number of these previously undocumented properties will be discussed.
Admission is free. Links to register for both in-person and virtual talks: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-black-owned-farms-in-the-bronx-in-the-early-1800s-tickets-1119101405429?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0sBhlUGJaYaOJjBuherzZzSjdGX0Dn36kaM_vLc2FovCGQNgN3wEhwaFU_aem_YJ6kE15lYRACMCiO-3s3bw