Landscape Information
Less than a mile west of the Hudson River on Livingston Avenue in Arbor Hill, this relatively level, approximately one-acre site includes a Greek Revival townhouse that served as the offices of the Vigilance Committee of Albany in the mid-nineteenth century. The chapter played a vital role in the Underground Railroad, assisting hundreds of self-emancipated individuals moving northward in search of freedom. Built in 1847 by African American ship owner John Johnson, the two-and-a-half story brick building was also the residence of the Committee's chairman, Stephen Myers, and his wife Harriet in the 1850s. Born into enslavement, Myers was instrumental in the region’s abolitionist movement.
Johnson sold the house in 1858 and its ownership changed frequently over the next century-and-a-half. In 2004 the property was acquired by the non-profit organization, Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc. (now Underground Railroad Education Center), which rehabilitated the structure as a museum. Between 2008 and 2026 they acquired and cleared contiguous lots further east, separated from the museum by a private residence. They established wooden planters (no longer extant) filled with flowering perennials and edible species and laid out a linear path to connect Livingston Avenue with 3rd Street to the south.
Today the museum is set back from the street by a sidewalk, edged by a lawn verge, and fronted by a modest lawn with shrubs and interpretive signage. Directly west, a brick walkway—edged by a row of ferns—and crushed stone drive leads to the rear of the property, characterized by a brick-paved patio and lawn shaded by a row of deciduous trees, including maple.
The Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and the property is located within Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
