A Cultural Showcase

Diane Sears | 5/1/2006

In Eatonville, the Orange County community best known as home of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival, former Miss Eatonville Debra Williams and business partner Sharon Fletcher Jones are creating the non-profit Heritage Village to showcase the nation's oldest incorporated black community and its 2,500 residents.

Established in 1887 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, the town is undergoing a rebirth with streetscaping, Town Hall renovations and proposed residential and retail development.

Add to the mix Heritage Village, four houses dating to 1923. They will be converted into a welcome center, souvenir shop, culture center and office building.

"All of the pieces are coming together," says Williams, a former Bank of America vice president who took early retirement last year. The idea was born after Williams and Jones went to Eatonville looking for investment properties and ended up working as volunteers.

They are now seeking financial and other support. A bank has agreed to put the town's first ATM in the welcome center. A craftsman in West Africa will create souvenir carvings of Eatonville landmarks for the gift shop. The women are approaching Oprah Winfrey, an avid fan of Zora Neale Hurston, to put her stamp on the project.

Tags: Central