Information
Landmark: Stephen and Harriet Myers ResidenceCity: Albany
Country: USA New York
Continent: North America
Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence, Albany, USA New York, North America
Overview
At 194 Livingston Avenue in Albany, New York, the Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence stands as a vital piece of history, its walls once sheltering freedom seekers and echoing with the voices of the mid-19th-century abolitionist movement.This modest brick townhouse, built in 1847, stands as a powerful symbol of freedom, resistance, and activism-its weathered red bricks still catching the afternoon light.Stephen and Harriet Myers, respected African American abolitionists and pillars of their community, turned their home into a refuge-lamplight glowing in the window-where enslaved people found safety on their journey to freedom along the Underground Railroad.The house became a crucial stop on the hidden network, offering a warm meal, a safe bed, and protection to freedom seekers making their way north toward Canada or other places where they could live free.Stephen Myers stood at the heart of Albany’s African American community, speaking out for civil rights and pushing for better education, his voice carrying through crowded meeting halls.He helped set up the Albany Vigilance Committee, a group that rallied to aid fugitive slaves and fight slavery in their own streets, sometimes slipping food into a runaway’s hands under the cover of night.Myers edited abolitionist papers, including The Northern Star and Freeman’s Advocate, and teamed up with well-known voices of the cause like Frederick Douglass.The house rises two and a half stories, its red brick front framed by tall, simple lines of Greek Revival design, a style popular in the mid-1800s.You’ll notice the rectangular, understated window lintels and sills, like clean lines framing each pane.The front door sits tucked back into a shadowed alcove.Beneath the dentilled cornice runs a decorative frieze, its carved patterns catching the light.The basement sits higher than ground level, its windows catching the afternoon light.The building’s plain, practical exterior doesn’t hint at its true worth-the history shaped by the people and the work it once held within its walls.In the 1970s, urban renewal plans nearly doomed the house, but preservationists stepped in and saved it, keeping its weathered red front door just as it was.In 2004, the Underground Railroad Education Center bought the building and set to work restoring it, aiming to bring back the look it had in the 1850s when the Myers lived there-right down to the weathered brick and tall, narrow windows.By 2015, the exterior was fully restored, and crews kept working inside, recreating the rooms where the Myers family once lived and welcomed freedom seekers.Today, the Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence welcomes visitors as a museum and learning hub, sharing vivid stories of the Underground Railroad, abolitionist struggles, and African American history in Albany-right down to the creak of its old wooden floors.You can visit at 194 Livingston Avenue, Albany, NY 12210, but tours are by appointment only.They dive deep into the Myers family’s story-their fight for justice-and the larger abolitionist movement, with details vivid enough to picture the streets they once walked.Call (518) 621-7793 to book a tour or get more details-ask about the old brick courtyard while you’re at it.When you step inside the residence, you glimpse the dangers and hard choices faced by those who stood up against slavery and injustice-like the cold fear of a knock at the door in the dead of night.The house still rises tall, a stubborn testament to courage and resilience, like weathered wood that’s held firm through years of bitter wind and unfair storms.The Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence stands as both a carefully preserved historic home and a vibrant reminder of freedom and equality, keeping alive the legacy of one of Albany’s bravest families in the long fight against slavery.
