The John G. Riley House and the history of Smokey Hollow

Built circa 1890, the John Gilmore Riley House at 419 East Jefferson Street was the home of John Gilmore Riley, an African American civic figure, businessman, and educator in Tallahassee. Riley was born a slave in Leon County on September 24, 1857, to James and Sarah Riley. While the National Register of Historic Places inventory states that Riley never attended school, he was taught by his Aunt Henrietta, who had been a school teacher.

Riley began his teaching career in 1877 at a school in Wakulla County. From the 1880s until 1926, he worked for the local Board of Public Instruction and served as the principal of the Lincoln Academy from 1892 to 1926. That school was the first secondary school in Tallahassee open to Black students and one of only three Freedmen schools in the state to offer higher education to formerly enslaved people. It was later named Lincoln High School.

The house was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1978, for its significance in capturing and sharing the history of African American History, locally, with the Smokey Hollow neighborhood, and throughout the state of Florida. The city bought the house after Riley's family moved out in 1973. Restoration was completed in 1981, and in 1996, it became officially recognized as the John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and Culture.

Today, you can visit the Riley House museum and peruse its extensive collection of materials, archival culture, and artifacts from the Riley family and the community. The Riley Archives contain manuscripts, maps, rare documents, photographs, and more, offering insights into the life and history of African Americans in Tallahassee. Disney has even donated an animatronic, speaking figure of John Gilmore Riley to the museum. In 2021, the museum received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to digitize the voluminous archive of photos, documents, rare books, oral histories, and artifacts that document the history of Black Floridians in Leon and Gadsden counties.

The Riley House is open to the public Tuesday through Thursday, and guided tours offer an opportunity to explore more about John Gilmore's life and the history of African Americans in Tallahassee.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons