diff --git a/recipes/default.rb b/recipes/default.rb
index a218e0b..b740515 100644
--- a/recipes/default.rb
+++ b/recipes/default.rb
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@
 mirror = node['activemq']['mirror']
 activemq_home = "#{node['activemq']['home']}/apache-activemq-#{version}"
 
+directory node['activemq']['home'] do
+  recursive true
+end
+
 unless File.exists?("#{activemq_home}/bin/activemq")
   remote_file "#{tmp}/apache-activemq-#{version}-bin.tar.gz" do
     source "#{mirror}/activemq/apache-activemq/#{version}/apache-activemq-#{version}-bin.tar.gz"