ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A leader in the Harlem Renaissance once called the First Coast home.
Now, in an unexpected move, the St. Johns County Commission has now voted to consider purchasing Zora Neale Hurston’s house in St. Augustine.
"Zora Neale Hurston was one of the country’s leading authors of the Harlem Renaissance," Harry Richardson said. He and his wife, Gigi Best-Richardson, are fans of Zora Neale Hurston.
She was not just an author but a folklorist who documented African American culture in Florida in the 1930s.
She also lived in a humble house on West King Street in the 1940s in St. Augustine.
"It was a rooming house. She did not own that house. She rented a room from that house," Best-Richardson said. "She wrote her autobiography from there. Dust Tracks on the Road."
They also own the African Diaspora Literature and Culture Museum on St. George Street in downtown St. Augustine. They tried to buy the Hurston home earlier this year, but the deal fell through.
Their hope was to turn the house into a museum about Hurston and into a community center.
The house, built in 1930, has been for sale for months. It's now listed on Zillow.com at $229,000.
On Tuesday, the St. Johns County Commission voted to look into buying the property in order to preserve the house and possibly turn it into a museum.
Hearing this news, Gigi-Best Richardson said, "I think it’s good if it’s a way to benefit the community."
Her husband said, "I think it would be a pretty good thing if they’re going to take care of it."
He has been inside the fixer-up and said it "needs a lot of work, a lot of work."
The county staff are now tasked with investigating how much it will cost to buy and possibly restore the house. It's something other local historians and literary fans say could help the city.