The Hudson Mohawk Industrial Cultural Park (UCP), later named RiverSpark, encompasses parts of Cohoes, Colonie, Green Island, Troy, Watervliet, Waterford, and most of the former Village of Lansingburgh and part of the former Town of Lansingburgh.

In the 1984 management plan for the UCP, the Melville House had been identified as a “key historic site” within the park and in fact “one of the most important sites in the UCP.” The plan stated that the Melville House “could, in the long run, be a house museum devoted to Lansingburgh’s history as a 19th century shipbuilding center.” (LHS does have information on the subject, but it is not the primary focus of the research collections or displays.)

page 212 of 1984 UCP Management Plan showing map of part of Lansingburgh with Herman Melville House and Lansingburgh Academy marked.

“Herman Melville House Opportunities and Constraints.” Hudson-Mohawk Urban Cultural Park Management Plan.

Page 281 of report.

Map detail of Lansingburgh including Batestown, with key, cropped from “North Section Signage” in Hudson Mohawk UCP Management Plan.


Hudson-Mohawk Urban Cultural Park Commission. Hudson-Mohawk Urban Cultural Park Management Plan. Cohoes, NY: HMUCPC, December 1984. http://riverspark.org/RiverSparkManagementPlan.Searchable.pdf

RiverSpark Hudson-Mohawk Heritage Area http://riverspark.org

Web Archive of Troy RiverSpark Visitors Center (closed in 2010) https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20100604022442/http://www.troyvisitorcenter.org