DURHAM, N.C. – Skip Gibbs wants a world within a world for the Black community.

"Our goal is to create a space in which we can educate, in which we can entertain," the community activist says.

Gibbs, 34, is currently building the Brightwood Permaculture Farm on Brightwood Lane in eastern Durham County. He says a Duke professor and his wife donated the four-acre land. The private property will serve as a place for people to learn, relax, garden, and conduct other activities. Amenities include an outdoor kitchen, yurts for sleeping, and places to socialize.

 

"I think we should go back to a time where we lived more communally," he says.

Gibbs says the farm will cater mostly to the Black community, but people of all races are welcomed. He doesn't want the outside world to get the wrong idea.

"It will be Black autonomy but not on some forceful, or violent or rage-fueled thing. It's more of out of necessity," he adds.

Gibbs hopes to open the farm by October.