Rapp Road Walking Tour
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Neighborhood spokeswoman Beverly Bardequez stands in front of one of two homes in the Rapp Road community that are in need of being stabilized and repaired.
The Historic Albany Foundation is offering a walking tour of the Rapp Road neighborhood on Thursday, Aug. 17, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
This neighborhood, which is on the national and state registers of historic places, was also recently designated by the New York Preservation League as one of “Seven to Save” for its significance to African-American living cultural history.
The Rapp Road community, located partly in the town of Guilderland and partly in the panhandle of Albany, was settled between about 1930 and 1960 as part of the Great Migration of blacks from the South to the North and other parts of the country. The fact that It remains largely intact today, with at least 12 families who are descended from the original settlers’ 23 families still living in the homes.
The event is free of charge, but donations are welcome. Participants should park on the street and meet a few minutes early at 14 Rapp Road in the field.
Corrected on Aug. 25, 2016. In an Aug. 11 notice on the Historic Albany Foundation’s Rapp Road Walking Tour, we printed the wrong time and date; it was Aug. 17 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.