The Poe Museum offers on-site, virtual, and outreach opportunities for visitors of all ages. Additionally, we offer sensory-friendly and interactive programming for all learners. Our guided tours and programs align with the Virginia Standards of Learning, structured around guiding objectives which build students’ critical thinking and historical analysis skills.

Browse our current program and tour offerings below or download our student programs catalog.

In addition to our tour and program offerings, The Poe Museum offers free educator resources to use in your home or classroom. Visit our Educator Resource page to view our downloadable resources.

On-Site Tours

Poe Museum Tour

Enjoy 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 minutes 

Age: 5^th-12^th grade

The Junior Raven Experience

Created with a younger audience in mind, the Junior Raven Experience offers a shorter, and more age-appropriate story of Poe’s life, with less grisly murders and scary ghosts! The tour is followed by a craft project and interactive reading of “The Raven.”

Length:  45 minutes

Age:  K-4^th grade

Interactive Programs

Illustrating Poe

Students will listen to and read a selection of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry including “Alone,” “Annabel Lee,” and “Eldorado.” Throughout the reading, students will pay attention to the imagery in the poems. Then, students will create their own artwork inspired by the poems and showcase their creations to their fellow classmates.

Length: 30 min

Age: K-5th

What’s in Poe’s Trunk?

Students will be introduced to the way curators and museum professionals use objects to tell stories. In this hands-on program, students will collaborate with their fellow classmates to identify, analyze, evaluate, and interpret reproduction primary sources from the Poe Museum’s collection. At then end of this program, students will be able to learn how these objects can give us insight into Poe’s life, literature, and the world he lived in.

Length: 40 minutes

Ages: 6^th– 12^th grade

A Narrator on Trial

Students will listen to a dramatic reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell- Tale Heart.” During the reading, students will focus on the themes, tone, symbolism, and other literary devices present in the story, to determine
whether the narrator is reliable or unreliable. After the reading, students will “put the narrator on trial” and argue their cases in front of the jury

Length: 45 minutes

Ages: 6^th– 12^th grade

Writing Workshops

Gothic Fiction Writing Workshop

Students will understand the Gothic genre by reading select passages of “The Cask of Amontillado.” Students will use this short story to identify Gothic themes, settings, and plot points by building an interactive plot diagram using bricks. After learning about the elements of a gothic short story, students will plan and write their own Gothic story.

Length: 45 min

Age: 6-12th

Virtual Programs

Poe in Pop Culture

Students will understand Poe’s literary contributions to the genres of science fiction, mystery, and horror. Students will then examine various references to Poe’s works and his life in pop culture and compare adaptions of Poe’s works across multiple mediums. Lastly, students will evaluate Poe’s portrayal in media from

Length: 45 minutes

Ages: 6^th– 12^th grade

Poe and the Gothic

Students will examine the Gothic form and its history as well as analyze comparisons to other Gothic artists like Mary Shelley and Horace Walpole. Using text from “The Fall of the House of Usher,” students will understand Poe’s pioneering techniques in creating unease and how these techniques continue to be used in horror films today.

Length: 45 minutes

Ages: 6^th– 12^th grade

Girl Scout Programs

Earn your Junior Scribe or Junior Detective badges at the Poe Museum! This program starts with a guided tour of the Poe Museum where scouts will learn about Poe’s life, literature, and legacy while viewing the largest collection of Poe primary sources. Afterwards, scouts will complete their designated activity book while exploring the museum and garden. 

Junior Detective Badge

Try out the skills that make great detectives.

• Practice the power of observation
• Communicate in code
• Fingerprint for fun
• Try out detective science
• Follow the clues to solve a real mystery!

When you’ve earned this badge, you’ll know how to follow clues and discover facts like a
real detect

Length: 45 minutes

Ages: 4^th– 5^th grade

Junior Scribe Badge

Explore what you can do with words and find out how you can encourage, entertain, and
excite people with your writing.

• Tell the world what you think
• Start with a poem
• Create a short story
• Use words to share who you are
• Write an article

When you’ve earned this badge, you’ll know how to write different kinds of stories-both
true tales and ideas from your imagination

Length: 45 minutes

Ages: 4^th– 5^th grade

Outreach

Want us to come to you? We are happy to bring Poe-to-go and travel to your organization or school to deliver one of our programs. All of our programs and virtual tours are eligible for outreach programs. Organizations or schools need to be within a 15-mile radius of the Poe Museum. Contact us to arrange your group’s outreach program.

To schedule a group visit, please fill out our booking form here. For more information on our tours please contact us.

Student Group Admission Rates

Payment is due the day of your scheduled program. Payment can be made in-person, by mail, or over the phone by calling (804) 648-5523.

On-site Admission Rate:

• Student tours $5 per student
• Programs $5 per student
• Combined tour and program $10 per student
• Adults $10 per person (Up to four adults/chaperones will be comped)

Virtual Program Admission Rate:

• Virtual programs are $150 per program.

Outreach Program Admission Rate:

• Outreach programs are $150 per program.

Discounts available for RPS and Title I schools. Contact us for additional information.