Guided Tours
Poe Museum Tour
Book a guided tour of the world’s finest collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s artifacts and personal items. Learn about Poe’s tragic life and how it influenced his famous tales of terror. Leave with a greater understanding of the Master of the Macabre and his literary legacy.
Length: 45-60 minutes
Walking Tour of Shockoe Bottom and Church Hill
Explore Edgar Allan Poe’s old haunts led by a Poe Museum Guide. Walk the streets of Poe’s hometown and see locations associated with Poe and Richmond history, including the 1785 Masonic Hall, St. John’s Episcopal Church, the Elmira Shelton house and more…
Length: 60 minutes
Contact tours@poemuseum.org for more information, and to book a tour.
Programs
All adult programs are available on-site at the museum, at your facility, or virtually. Please contact tours@poemuseum.org for more information, and to book a program.
The Tell-Tale Heart Mock Trial
Experience Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” brought to life… and death! Audience members put the notorious murderer on trial, acting as judge, defense lawyer, prosecuting attorney, and jury. After a compelling testimony and interactive arguments, the jury determines the fate of the murderer…
Length: 30-45 minutes
The Poe-logue
Poe Museum Programs Coordinator and regional stage actor Dean Knight performs dramatic readings of your choice of Poe’s work. Knight augments the readings with information about Poe’s life and career to provide insight into Poe’s famous tales and poems. Choose one short story and multiple poems to be performed. Popular choices include: “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “Annabel Lee”, “The Raven” , and much more…
Length: 60 minutes
Curatorial Programs
Poe Museum Curator Chris Semtner is an internationally recognized expert on Poe and has a wide variety of hour-long programs to offer your group, either in-person at your local site or virtually.
Poe’s Life and Legacy
Why are we still reading Poe’s works? Who was the man behind such classic works as “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart?” This presentation will answer these questions and tell the equally tragic and compelling story of Poe’s life, while providing insight on his legacy in literature.
Poe in Richmond
While many cities claim Edgar Allan Poe as their own, Poe considered Richmond his hometown. The River City is the alpha and omega of Poe’s literary legacy. Here is where he wrote his first lines of poetry and got his first job in journalism, and here is where he gave his last public reading before his death.This presentation follows Poe through his many years in Richmond to show how the city influenced his greatest works.
Pandemics and Poe
Edgar Allan Poe lost many loved ones to diseases like cholera, yellow fever, and tuberculosis, and the terror of plagues and pandemics left a lasting impact on his work. Disease-ridden stories like “The Masque of the Red Death” and “King Pest” demonstrate how Poe’s work has remained relevant through the many years, and has become even more valuable with our current pandemic.This presentation examines Poe’s experience with pandemics and how it shaped his work.
Paranormal Poe: Poe and Victorian Spiritualism
From seances to spirit writing, the Spiritualists attempted to communicate with the other side, additionally, many of Edgar Allan Poe’s tales offer ideas on the afterlife and how the living can communicate with the dead. Poe took advantage of the coinciding rise of the Spiritualist movement in America to share stories of death and life and whatever comes in-between. This presentation discusses Poe’s connection with the movement and finds out how he inadvertently influenced their beliefs.
Poe and Madness
Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s most popular tales explore the subject of madness. Ever interested in the newest scientific advances, Poe examined the minds of insane narrators in tales like “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” while commenting on the state of mental hospitals in stories like “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether.” This presentation takes a look at these works and more to discover Poe’s own thoughts on mental illness and the fine line between sanity and madness.
All curatorial programs are available at your facility or virtually. Please contact tours@poemuseum.org for more information, and to book a program.
