Poe’s engagement ring is evidence of the tragic love story of Poe and his first and last fiancée Elmira Royster Shelton.
Engaged as teenagers only to have their engagement broken by her father, Poe and Shelton became engaged a second time in the last months of his life.
The mahogany fragment came from the original coffin in which Poe was buried on October 8, 1849.
In 1875, Poe’s body was moved across the cemetery from his unmarked grave to a better location where a large monument could be placed over his grave
The gold watch is engraved “Edgar A. Poe.” In 1843, Poe gave the watch to one of his creditors to pay off a debt. Although the watch has remained in private hands ever since, its existence has been known through newspaper articles about it dating from the 1880s until it appeared at auction at Christies in 2019.
Edgar Allan Poe’s waistcoat, kept by his mother-in-law Maria Poe Clemm after his death in 1849.
It was kept in a trunk of Poe’s clothing by Maria Poe Clemm, who left it to her niece Elizabeth Rebecca Herring Smith in 1871.
Celebrate Women's History Month at the Poe Museum! Join the Poe Museum in a guided tour where we will explore the extraordinary lives of the women who shaped Poe's life, […]
Join us for a Friday the 13th celebration of gothic women writers! This event will include a lecture at 3:15pm by our curator on the literary works of the Brontës, […]
Join us at The Poe Museum on Wednesday, March 25th for our first Tell-Tale Talk of 2026, featuring author Levi Lionel Leland, who will discuss his newest work, Edgar Allan […]
Celebrate Women's History Month at the Poe Museum! Join the Poe Museum in a guided tour where we will explore the extraordinary lives of the women who shaped Poe's life, […]
Celebrate Women's History Month at the Poe Museum! Join the Poe Museum in a guided tour where we will explore the extraordinary lives of the women who shaped Poe's life, […]
Celebrate National Poetry Month! Join us on Saturday, April 4th from 10:00am-12:00pm for an enchanted morning of nature poetry, crafts, and programming brought to you by The Poe Museum. We will be joined by our community partner, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Check out their website for your child to receive free books! Our next Enchanted […]
Join us at The Poe Museum on Wednesday, April 8th for a Tell-Tale Talk featuring Professor Joshua Barton on "How beautiful it is and how easily it can be broken": The Tarnished Mirror of Southern Gothic Literature. “How beautiful it is and how easily it can be broken": The Tarnished Mirror of Southern Gothic Literature […]
In partnership with RAL, the Richmond SPCA, and RACC, join us from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM on Saturday, April 18th for the third annual Cat Adoption Event at The Poe Museum! On April 18th, the Enchanted Garden will once again be full of feline friends — and we’re not just talking about Edgar and Tib... To make […]
Join us for the first UnHappy Hour of the year on Thursday, April 23rd. Please check back in early April for more details and to reserve tickets.
Join the Poe Museum for our virtual Short Story Club, a low-commitment literary gathering designed for the busy reader who may not be able to commit to reading a new book every month. Our Short Story Club meets once a month on Tuesdays on Zoom from 6:00pm-6:30pm--a perfect chance to unwind midweek, connect with fellow literature lovers, and enjoy new reads—all […]
Please check back in late April to reserve tickets for this event. Join us at The Poe Museum on Thursday, May 14th for a Tell-Tale Talk with author Emily Carpenter, who will discuss her newest novel, A Spell For Saints And Sinners. About A Spell For Saints And Sinners: In front of an elegantly shabby […]
Join us for the May UnHappy Hour on Thursday, May 28th. Please check back in early May for more details and to reserve tickets.
“Haunt me, then!” From Brontë to Poe
The release of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights (2026), though not a literal adaptation of Emily Brontë’s masterpiece, has reignited public fascination with her gothic novel. Whether you’ve recently watched the film or read Wuthering Heights (1847), you may find yourself searching for more literature that dwells in themes present in Brontë’s only novel. Edgar Allan Poe,
200th Anniversary of Poe’s Enrollment at UVA
“Quoth the Raven, ‘Wahoowa!’” Today, February 14th, marks the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s enrollment at the University of Virginia. Poe entered the University in 1826 as a part of its second class, appearing 136th out of 177 students on UVA’s matriculation list.i Construction
1845 was an influential year in the American literary sphere. In that year, two radically opposing works gained international recognition: The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass and “The Raven.” While this year introduced the greater public to
