Erin Hill
John G. Riley House Museum stands along East Jefferson Street in downtown Tallahassee as one of the city’s most important surviving links to its African American past. Built around 1890, the two-story wood-frame home once belonged to John Gilmore Riley, a man born into slavery who later became a leading educator, businessman, and community figure in Leon County.
Today, the historic house functions as a museum dedicated to documenting African American life in Tallahassee from the period following the Civil War through the mid-20th century. The structure itself is a rare remnant of Smokey Hollow, a historically Black neighborhood that once occupied much of the surrounding area before urban renewal projects reshaped downtown…