Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond Tour - Clio

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1. Elmira Shelton House

Constructed in 1844 by the famous Van Lew family, from which the famous Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew originated, the house at 2407 East Grace Street is more well-known for its long-term tenant Elmira Royster Shelton. Shelton was twice engaged to Edgar Allan Poe and served as his muse and inspiration for many of his most famous works, such as “To Elmira,” “Tamerlane,” and “Song.” There is enough reason to believe that Poe wrote “Annabel Lee,” at least partially, with Elmira in mind. When Poe died on October 7, 1849, he and Elmira were engaged to be married ten days later. Elmira Royster Shelton never remarried and became a social recluse until her death on February 11, 1888. During the mid-20th-Century, the Historic Richmond Foundation restored and operated out of the Elmira Shelton House. In 1994, the house was transferred to a private owner, and still remains privately owned today.

2. St. John's Episcopal Church

Being the center of Henrico Parish, St. John’s Episcopal Church and its congregation stretches back to the very beginnings of Virginia in 1611, being an offshoot of the first church in Jamestown. William Byrd II is credited with establishing Richmond with land he donated in 1733, and in 1740 he donated land for the construction of a church for Henrico Parish. Completed in 1741, St. John’s Episcopal Church is not only the oldest church in Richmond, it is the oldest wooden church in Virginia. In March 1775, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, and over 100 other prominent Virginians met in St. John’s Church to hold the Second Virginia Convention. It was during this meeting in the church that Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, cementing the church in American history. St. John’s Church continued to thrive, surviving two domestic wars and the financial fluctuations of the 19th-Century. However, the urban flight and racial segregation of the mid-20th-Century greatly reduced the number of church members and residents within the Church Hill neighborhood. In the recent decades, St. John’s Church and its surrounding neighborhood have experienced a resurgence in prominence. St. John’s Episcopal Church was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 20, 1961, designated a Virginia Landmark on June 2, 1970, and added to the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing member of the St. John’s Church Historic District on September 15, 1970.

3. The Poe Museum

The Poe Museum of Richmond, Virginia has been in operation since 1922 and was made possible by a sixteen-year effort of the Poe Memorial Association. Considered "America's Shakespeare," Poe is best known for his short stories and poetry; and established in 1906, the Poe Memorial Association sought to create a monument to the author. Sixteen years later in 1922, the Poe Museum opened to the public in Richmond’s oldest known home, the circa 1754 Old Stone House. Today, the museum holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Edgar Allan Poe artifacts, memorabilia, and documents. The Old Stone House was designated a Virginia Landmark on October 16, 1973 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1973.

4. Monumental Church

Richmond’s famous Monumental Church came into existence out of tragedy. The night of December 26, 1811, the Richmond Theatre caught fire during a theatrical performance. In all, the death toll reached 72 and included the Virginia Governor George William Smith and his wife. Richmond’s civic leaders decided to honor the deceased by erecting both a monument and a church at the location of the former theater. In 1812, the committee chose a design put forth by Roger Mills. Mills, once a student of Thomas Jefferson and draftsman for Benjamin Henry Latrobe at the time, is considered by many as the first American-born professional architect. Mills’ design combined both monument and church within a single structure, being one of the country’s earliest and most distinct examples of the burgeoning Greek Revival architecture. Notable congregants of the Monument Church were Notable members were Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, John Wickham, and John and Frances Allan, foster parents of Edgar Allan Poe. The Monumental Church survived the Civil War and continued to serve an active congregation until its de-consecration in 1965. In 1983, Historic Richmond purchased the church and has worked to restore and rehabilitate the building and surrounding property. The Monumental Church was designated a Virginia Landmark on November 5, 1968, added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 1968, and designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971.

5. Statue of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an author during the 19th-century known for his ominously themed poems and short stories. He was adopted by John and Frances Allan and grew up in Richmond, VA; he moved away a few times during his life, but he always returned. A century after Poe's mysterious death, Dr. George Edward Barksdale, who was an enthusiast of Poe, petitioned Virginia Governor Thomas Stanley in 1954 to erect a monument for the late author. After gaining approval, Barksdale hired Pennsylvania sculptor Charles Rudy to create a statue of Poe. The statue was placed in Capitol Square near the Bell Tower on January of 1958; it was unveiled and dedicated on October 7, 1959, which was the 110th anniversary of Poe’s death.

Linden Row is a set of eight Greek Revival style rowhouses constructed between 1847 and 1853. Prior to the houses’ construction, Charles Ellis owned a formal garden on the property which became famous for its rose bushes and jasmine and linden trees. A young Edgar Allan Poe became a frequent visitor to the garden, where he courted his first fiancé Elmira Royster Shelton and took influence for his poem “To Helen.” By 1853, ten rowhouses were constructed by Fleming James and Samuel and Alexander Rutherfoord. These rowhouses later served as notable schools for girls’, producing famous pupils such as Irene and Nancy Langhorne. Mary Wingfield Scott purchased the remaining eight rowhouses in 1950, and gave the property to the Historic Richmond Foundation in 1980. In 1988, the rowhouses were restored and converted into a 70-room inn renamed the Linden Row Inn, and continues to be one of the nation’s finest surviving examples of Greek Revival style architecture. Linden Row was designated a Virginia Landmark on July 6, 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1971.

7. Shockoe Hill Cemetery

Opened for public interment in 1822, Shockoe Hill Cemetery is Richmond’s first city-owned municipal burial ground and the second oldest public burial ground in the city. Since its establishment, the burial ground expanded four times and now spans 12.7 acres. Many prominent Richmonders and Virginians were laid to rest in Shockoe Hill, such as Revolutionary War leader Peter Francisco, United States Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, the largest group of War of 1812 veterans in the country, Edgar Allan Poe’s foster parents and fiancé, and hundreds of Civil War soldiers. Despite being owned and maintained by the City of Richmond, Shockoe Hill Cemetery fell into disrepair by 1904 and continued to decay well into the 1950s. In 2006, a volunteer group called Friends of Shockoe Hill organized and began assisting the city with maintenance of the historic cemetery. The group has been responsible for repairing and resetting dozens of headstones, conducting research and walking tours, and public outreach about the significance of the cemetery. Shockoe Hill Cemetery was designated a Virginia Landmark on April 28, 1995 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1995.

Constructed in 1838 by Thomas Talley, a local grocer and former plantation owner from Hanover County, the house known as Talavera became one of the first houses constructed in Richmond’s famous Fan District. Talley’s writer daughter Susan Archer Talley, later Weiss, became friends with Edgar Allan Poe, and entertained Poe at the house during the Summer of 1849. Poe allegedly gave his last reading of his poem “The Raven” in the front parlor of the home. Conrad Frederick Sauer, founder of the C.F. Sauer Company, became the next owner of the house and prevented it from being demolished. Since then, the house was moved from Broad Street to its current location on Grace Street and saved by preservationists in the 1970s. Talavera remains privately owned and is not open to the public.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond Tour

Created by Kalen Martin-Gross on April 13th 2019, 6:49:48 am.

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Description

Born on January 19, 1809 the second child to David and Eliza Arnold Poe, Edgar Allan Poe and his siblings found themselves orphaned in less than two years. Poe was taken in by the successful Richmond tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances and raised as their foster son, taking Allan as his middle name. Despite being born in Boston, Massachusetts, Edgar Allan Poe spent his formative years in Richmond and considered himself a Virginian first and foremost. The influence and inspiration of Poe’s youthful experiences and surroundings in Richmond are witnessed throughout his writings such as “To Elmira,” “To Helen,” and “Song.” By the time that Poe passed away suddenly at age 40 on October 7, 1849, he had permanently embedded himself as a central figure in American literature, pioneering the genres of Romanticism, Detective Fiction, and Science Fiction, and becoming one of the first masters of the short story. But Richmond did not come to appreciate its author until well into the 20th-Century. Now considered America’s Shakespeare, Poe’s works, such as “The Raven,” “Annabel Lee,” and “Fall of the House of Usher,” remain cornerstones in American literature. The Edgar Allan Poe’s Richmond Tour offers a glimpse of the remaining sites in Richmond associated with the author. The tour begins in the Church Hill neighborhood with stops at the Elmira Shelton House and St. John’s Church. Continuing west, the next stops on the tour are the Poe Museum in Shockoe Bottom, and the Monumental Church and the Statue of Edgar Allan Poe in the Capitol District. The tour then visits Linden Row in the Monroe Ward neighborhood before continuing onto the Shockoe Hill Cemetery in the Gilpin neighborhood. The tour ends at Talavera in Richmond’s famous Fan District.

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