‘Black cultural heritage site’ seeks to buy land
Founder of Kamora’s Cultural Corner sets sights on public trust
For three years, Kamora’s Cultural Corner has operated on a 1.7-acre green space in Hartford’s North End, creating an oasis of peace, purpose and learning in a busy residential and commercial area.
At KCC, artists gather. Entrepreneurs sell their work. A heritage garden grows culturally significant produce. A labyrinth invites meditation. History is taught. Workshops and campouts are held. Meaningful conversations take place. Cultural humility and community unity are instilled. Accomplishments are celebrated.
Kamora Herrington, KCC’S founder, wants the healing vibe of the undeveloped sanctuary space to last forever. To make that happen, Herrington has launched a fundraising drive to buy the land from her landlord.
“The owner bought this piece of land for a little bit of money at auction. Now with gentrification coming in, this piece of land can make money for outside investors to build housing we don’t really need,” Herrington said.
Under her plan, the land at 75 Sterling St. “would not be in private ownership. It would be a public trust.”
Herrington said a $20,000 down payment secured an option to buy that expires on July 1. By that date, Herrington wants to raise about $500,000. About $100,000 has been pledged already.
Some of the cash will buy the land. The rest is for environmental cleanup. Decades ago, part of the lot was used to park and repair trucks owned by Sealtest; automotive residue sank into the soil.
“Cleaning up the lot is part of the remediation in our work. Everything we do is about what can be done to heal communities,” she said. “If we let it stay contaminated, we haven’t done what we said we’d do.”
When the money is raised, Sterling Street Sanctuary and Nature
Reserve would be purchased by Trust for Public Land, which then would hand it over to KNOX Foundation. KNOX would hold onto it, and let Herrington use it rentfree, until Herrington does the cleanup and assembles a stewardship panel. Then that stewardship panel would take over the property.
“It’s not happening quickly. I’m thinking it’ll be a five-year process,” Herrington said.
Rising rent
Terry Waller, a former Hartford deputy fire chief, bought the land — he would not specify the price — about 10 years ago in a municipal tax-lien sale. When Herrington approached him in 2020 to locate KCC on his lot, he liked the idea.
“I thought her project was a good project. She does wonderful things,” he said. “I donated the land for the first year.”
The second year, he charged her $600 a month rent to use the lot. The third year, rent rose to $1,200. Herrington said the Trust for Public Land helped her with rent for the last few months.
“If this is the rent, this project can’t continue. In winter, we bring in no money,” she said.
When Waller indicated he wanted to sell, potential buyers made offers. He chose to offer Herrington the option to buy the land.
“This will help her take it to another level so she can really plan long-term,” he said. “It’s a better fit than people wanting to put housing there.”
Waller also would not specify the price he has been offered. Herrington said she was determined to match the other offers.
“It was important to me that we figure out how to acquire this land and pay him whatever the asking price is,” she said.
Land trusts
Trust for Public Land has been working with Herrington for months on this plan. Honor Lawler of the Trust said proper ownership of the land is essential to the future of KCC.
“It’s tough to have a place the public can enjoy and with confidence continue to be able to enjoy when it is not owned in some type of public way, a land trust, a nonprofit, or some other mechanism for owning public open space,” Lawler said.
“If she wants to improve the space and create more extensive offerings, ownership needs to be more secure,” she added.
Patrick Doyle, executive director at KNOX — which oversees 21 green spaces in the city, almost all of them used for agriculture — said he was happy to help, even though Herrington’s plan is not primarily agricultural in nature.
“KNOX as an organization was founded on a vision that it’s not only important to preserve green space in Hartford, but that it’s vitally important to everyone in the city to have access to the benefits that the green spaces provide,” Doyle said.
The heritage garden at KCC’S Sterling Street sanctuary — which currently grows kale, callaloo and collard greens — “has a soft spot in our hearts,” he said, but the KCC offerings as a whole are important to KNOX.
“These great spaces that people have invested in and other folks in the community are engaging in, we want to see them continue to do that,” he said. “It’s an important community asset.”
Cultural humility
KCC was founded about two years before it moved to the green space. Herrington founded it as a “cultural humility agency” offering consulting, training and workshops on how to set aside biases and perceptions and learn to connect with others.
“DEI is great but it doesn’t get from a theoretical place to an actual practice place,” Herrington said. “It’s a place to practice theories and learn.”
KCC’S focuses grew, especially after it moved to Sterling Street. Herrington emphasizes that the sanctuary is more than just a place to grow vegetables.
“People in this community think I am building a community garden. I am not. It’s not a community garden. It’s a Black cultural heritage site,” she said.
Karleigh Webb, who built the meditative labyrinth at KCC, is a frequent visitor to the site.
“What Kamora is trying to do is to set a tone and a template, not just here in Hartford but across the whole state of Connecticut,” Webb said.
“She wants others to do the same, to reimagine cities, states, communities, to reclaim green space in urban areas.”
Carrie Firestone of Avon held the launch of her most recent novel, “The First Rule of Climate Club,” at KCC.
“My ‘Climate Club’ book is about climate, but it’s also about social justice and an antiracist book,” Firestone said.
She praised the space for its multidimensionality.
“She crated a space where she says, ‘welcome artists, welcome people to talk about real things, welcome small business owners who may not have another space to sell their goods, welcome people who create delicious food come and share your food with us, welcome growing food and farmers,’ ” Firestone said. “It’s a space that just makes sense.”
To make a tax-deductible donation, visit kamorasculturalcorner. com.