James Weldon Johnson, standing behind his writing cabin in Great Barrington at "Five Acres," his summer property off Alford Road. The owners of the cabin, and the foundation they established in Johnson's name, have been working for a decade to properly preserve the cabin where Johnson worked and sought refuge in the 1920s and 30s.
GREAT BARRINGTON — The preservation of James Weldon Johnson’s historic writing cabin is off to a strong start after more than $100,000 in grants have rolled in to restore it, furthering the poet and civil rights leader’s legacy.
The bulk of the money is a $96,000 grant from The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. That will support a first phase of work stabilizing and repairing the cabin and its foundation.
For the cabin project, the James Weldon Johnson Foundation also received $10,000 from The 1772 Foundation through Preservation Massachusetts, and another $5,000 from the Mildred Jones Keefe Fund for Massachusetts, also part of the National Trust.
This initial work to the cabin, which sits above the Alford Brook amid a grove of hemlocks, is estimated at around $152,000 to $200,000, said Rufus Jones, president of the foundation. Jones and his wife, Jill Rosenberg-Jones, own the cabin and the larger Johnson property off Alford Road, which includes Johnson’s summer home.
The cabin, shown in 2019, in which African American poet, lyricist and author James Weldon Johnson wrote in during the late 1920s and '30s on his property, Five Acres in Great Barrington, has not been renovated since its construction. The cabin has sustained heavy structural damage and the current property owners, Jill Rosenberg-Jones and Rufus Jones, are working to raise money to restore the historic structure.
Jones wants to begin work soon, before costs increase. He’ll then turn to fundraising for the next phase, which is to restore the interior of the cabin, which includes Johnson’s bed, and the flooring.
The foundation plans to revive the cabin as a writing studio for scholars and authors, as well as open it for educational tours.
And to simply preserve the place where Johnson wrote spiritual prose and sought refuge and relaxation from his work to end racial injustice.
The entire project is estimated at around $400,000, Jones said.
This photo shows the cabin in Great Barrington where poet, lyricist and author James Weldon Johnson wrote in during the late 1920s and '30s.
While the cabin project is underway, he’ll also work to protect the land around the cabin to ensure development won’t threaten what many see as an historic and cultural treasure.
“We now also need to raise money to protect the surrounding land,” Jones said, noting the hemlock grove. Hemlocks are considered “near threatened.”
“We don’t want to have one without the other,” he wrote in a statement. “The land itself is just as special as the writing cabin that sits upon it.”
A NAACP official and Harlem Renaissance visionary, Johnson also was a teacher, lawyer, diplomat and songwriter known for co-writing the anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
He and his wife, Grace Nail Johnson, bought “Five Acres” in 1926.
“He was fighting against racial injustice, but his doctor said, ‘You know, you can’t keep burning that type of energy all night and all day,’ so he would come to the Berkshires to relax,” Jones said. “He felt safe here to relax, revive and create.”
The Jones family bought the property a decade ago after a dream led Jill Rosenberg-Jones on a Google search in which she found the property for sale. She also had other connections to the Johnsons.
Jill Rosenberg-Jones and Rufus Jones, shown here below the cabin in 2019. The cabin is where African American poet, lyricist and author James Weldon Johnson wrote in during the late 1920s and '30s on his property, Five Acres in Great Barrington. The cabin has not been renovated since its construction.
The Jones’ started the foundation in 2017 with a mission to advance Johnson’s legacy. The nonprofit also partners with Bard College at Simon’s Rock to support artists in a residency program. During the pandemic, Jones retired from his Wall Street job and began focusing exclusively on the Johnson legacy, as well as Jones’ own music.
He said it took him 10 years to find the right team and to move forward with grant writing that proved successful.
“It’s unusual for small nonprofits, especially those run by African Americans,” he said.
Thirty-three recipients shared $3 million in this year’s National Trust grants to preserve Black history.