Rapp Road in Albany’s Pine Bush once had more in common with the Big Muddy than the Big Apple.
It was once a rural pocket within an urban hub, a tight-knit community of African American families from Mississippi who arrived in droves during the Great Migration.
Now, Rapp Road looks drastically different. Development has turned it into a main thoroughfare, but Beverly Bardequez remembers exactly what it used to look like when it was just a little dirt road, and she’s taking steps to preserve those memories and the community’s history.
“The complexion of the neighborhood has changed considerably,” said Bardequez. “It’s very important that we keep our history alive of how we came to be here. Most people didn’t even know we were here until they started developing around us.”
Bardequez will talk about the Rapp Road community’s historical and social significance to Albany and the Pine Bush on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at the Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center, which also houses a digital exhibit featuring video interviews with Rapp Road residents.
Bardequez is a third generation Rapp Road family. Her grandparents were some of the original settlers, arriving in the late ‘40s. She recalls a simple childhood on a Rapp Road that was far more tranquil and isolated than it is now.
“My earliest recollections were when I lived on Pine Lane, probably about 4 years old, and I remember at that time it was just the barren pines and we used to walk up Rapp Road to my grandparents’ home and spend a lot of time wandering through the woods picking berries and fruits and bringing them back to my grandmother who would make preserves and pies,” said Bardequez.
There were also elaborate gardens, chickens, pigs and other signs of country life thriving, an unusual sight even at that time.
The earliest Rapp Road settlers found their way to Albany by following their pastor, so the community was very church-centric.
“Our church was a very integral part of our community because that’s how we came to be here,” said Bardequez. “Like some people go to work and have activities, church was our activity outside the home.”
Relatives or not, Rapp Road families shared intimate relationships.
“There were cousins, uncles, aunts and church members that helped each other build modest little homes,” said Bardequez.
Some homes have since been torn down and most elders (who Bardequez refers to original settlers) have passed away, but there are a handful homes still stagnant, occupants and all.
“We still have some of the original settlers that reside here, the oldest being Labor Johnson who is in his 90s and still lives in the original home he built with the help of other neighbors,” said Bardequez.
Bardequez can see her grandparents’ house across the field and her aunt lives down the street. There are five generations of her family living on Rapp Road and Bardequez said exposing them to how their neighborhood started out (landscape-wise and socially) is important.
“Every year we have a family reunion in august and we try to maintain that this is our 54th year we just had and the whole purpose for that … is to give them a sense of our roots,” said Bardequez.
Her own roots and that of the Rapp Road community are so important that Bardequez has made it her mission to preserve history on a larger level.
She worked with Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center staff and Dr. Jennifer Lemak, senior historian and curator of African American History at the New York State Museum, to produce video interviews with original residents. Those interviews can be seen at the Discovery Center as part of a project sponsored by Friends of the Pine Bush Community and with grant money from the Bender Family Foundation.
“The history of the Rapp Road Community seemed to be a wonderful fit for our history exhibit,” said Mike Venuti, Discovery Center project manager. “The Pine Bush is a unique natural history area and it’s been influenced especially by human development … and that’s what this particular exhibit relates to.”
Bardequez said the neighborhood’s changes are troubling but she can’t bring herself to leave.
“Growth and development has changed our community greatly, to my dismay,” said Bardequez. “… I take a lot of pride in this community because I can say this is my roots, this is where I grew up, this is what I know.”
Even though it looks different, though, she wants people to know it still symbolizes the same thing.
“To me, what this community demonstrates is that people with little or no means struggled, worked hard and cultivated the land and we have been able to sustain this community based on what they were able to do early on,” said Bardequez. “It [gives] me a sense of what hard work and love of family can accomplish if you work together. That’s a very deep lesson for me that perseverance and hard work can prevail.”
The Rapp Road community was designated as a National Historic District in 2003, something Bardequez had a hand in. She’ll share her stories and insight at 7 p.m. on Dec. 13. Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center is at 195 New Karner Road in A
