diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
index 33b7303bb4..417a5b4f5b 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
@@ -2171,9 +2171,10 @@ public class ColumnFamilyStore implements ColumnFamilyStoreMBean
         final JSONObject manifestJSON = new JSONObject();
         manifestJSON.put("files", filesJSONArr);
 
-
         try
         {
+            if (!manifestFile.getParentFile().exists())
+                manifestFile.getParentFile().mkdirs();
             PrintStream out = new PrintStream(manifestFile);
             out.println(manifestJSON.toJSONString());
             out.close();