Hymns for Salted Bones: A Re-membering of Hayti Walking Tour

Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation (HPCDC) and Preservation Durham are excited to partner with Whistle Stop Tours to present a theatrical tour featuring six important sites along the historic Fayetteville Street Corridor. Hymns for Salted Bones: A Re-membering of Hayti is part of the Fayetteville Street Corridor Project.

The Fayetteville Street Corridor is a crucial part of the Hayti Community, home to many movers and shakers in Durham throughout its history. Featured along this tour are the Dr. Leroy Swift Office and Residence, the Harriet Tubman YWCA, the Dr. Joseph N. Mills House, the F.K. "Movie King" and Parepa Watkins House, the Page and Sons Grocery Store, and the Scarborough House. Prepare for an immersive storytelling experience centering community testimonies brought to life through performance art. A funeral and a revival, a ritual and a living procession, the tour gathers witnesses to honor Black spaces as sites of care, achievement, displacement, and resilience. Together we will preserve dignity, confront loss, embrace belonging, and invite collective responsibility.

It is important to note that this tour is different from our usual walking tours in that actors will walk us through a performance, embodying the homes to share their histories. Whistle Stop Tours is a performance group that shares history through their art. Music, dance, rituals, and acting are all crucial parts of this tour, creating an immersive experience for the tourgoers to learn more about the historic Fayetteville Street Corridor.

Dates: Each tour from 2:00 - 3:30 pm

September 12th

September 19th

September 26th

October 3rd

October 17th

November 7th

November 14th

November 21st

Tour will begin in front of 1201 Fayetteville Street (Stanford L. Warren Library, side facing 1111 Fayetteville Street) and end at 1406 Fayetteville Street.

Tour Parking: W.D. Hill Recreation Center (1308 Fayetteville Street, near the last stop of the tour)

   Along Merrick and Simmons Streets (near the beginning of the tour, close to Stanford L. Warren Library)

   Please do not park in the Stanford L. Warren Library parking lot at 1201 Fayetteville, as this parking is designated for library patrons.

Tours are free and open to neighbors who live, work, play, worship and study along the Fayetteville Street Corridor - as well as the general public. Advance registration is required.