Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
Balkans road trip
Bosnia and Herzegovina • 9 days, 8 nights
Balkans Road Trip: Serbia, Croatia & Bosnia and Herzegovina
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Contemplative paths.
Ayo Rock Formations
Parking Lot Shoeprints
Dewey Square Pylon & Bent 38
Black Rocks of Pungo Andongo
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
The pavlova comes crowned with jewel-like fruit.
Central Park Boathouse
The Village Tavern of Long Grove - exterior.
The Village Tavern
Hunter House Hamburgers
L’Escamoteur
Names on the bartop.
The Dive
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
No thanks.
AO Mailbag: Which Places Just Aren’t Worth Visiting?
about 1 hour ago
Benshi would introduce and provide commentary for films like A Page of Madness.
Remembering the Heyday of Japan’s Silent FIlm Narrators
about 18 hours ago
The Horn & Hardart Automat was a staple of urban dining in midcentury New York City.
All Hail the Slop Bowl, Lunch of Our Ancestors
about 20 hours ago
The Grateful Dead’s “Wall of Sound” on display in Las Vegas.
The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound Changed Live Music Forever
1 day ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Virginia Richmond Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Edgar Allan Poe Museum

This museum devoted to the gothic author holds such interesting ephemera as his socks and walking stick.

Richmond, Virginia

Added By
Adam Wulf
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
Edgar Allan Poe Museum   Eli Christman on Flickr
Edgar Allan Poe Museum   Eli Christman on Flickr
The end of Poe’s walking stick.   Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Poe’s socks.   Edgar Allan Poe Museum
  travelsyte / Atlas Obscura User
  travelsyte / Atlas Obscura User
  travelsyte / Atlas Obscura User
Entrance   travelsyte / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
The Poe museum also contains the oldest still standing house in Richmond   ickaimp / Atlas Obscura User
Grave replica   Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
  SemiruralYeti / Atlas Obscura User
  SemiruralYeti / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  SemiruralYeti / Atlas Obscura User
  SemiruralYeti / Atlas Obscura User
  SemiruralYeti / Atlas Obscura User
  breaingram / Atlas Obscura User
Sign   Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
Quote the Raven…   Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
Bust   Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
  Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
Plaque   Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
Front door   Jason Michael Walker / Atlas Obscura User
  ickaimp / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
Poe’s childhood bed   travelsyte / Atlas Obscura User
Poe’s bed   ski queen / Atlas Obscura User
  ski queen / Atlas Obscura User
Pluto, one of the black cats that silently watch visitors to the Museum.   rubicat / Atlas Obscura User
Poe House layout   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
“Tell-Tale Heart “Pocket Watch   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Poetry Collection Box   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
‘Masque of the Red Death” stained glass   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
‘The Poe Toaster’ ephemera   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
E. A. Poe’s hair   SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
Poe Shrine   ski queen / Atlas Obscura User
Poe Shrine   ski queen / Atlas Obscura User
Poe Shrine   ski queen / Atlas Obscura User
The Enchanted Garden features a gathering space for the Museum’s UNhappy Hours, and features a Poe Shrine.   rubicat / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  paigeelizabeth3660 / Atlas Obscura User
  PushingUpDaisies / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Richmond, Virginia's Edgar Allan Poe Museum celebrates the grim author's life and work with one of the largest collections of letters, manuscripts, and artifacts related to the writer. The collection even includes his childhood bed! Poe lived in Richmond, Virginia, at various times of his life ranging from his youth up through adulthood. Given how much of his life he spent in and around Richmond, it is a bit surprising that none of his actual homes have been preserved. Thanks to his notorious drinking and gambling habits, the city of Richmond was not immediately keen on establishing monuments to the author, and even shot down a proposal for a public statue from the eventual founders of the Poe Museum. Nonetheless, the Poe Museum was established in 1922 in the oldest building in Richmond. The founders collected anything they could that related to the author's life, including furniture, correspondence, manuscripts, trinkets, and clothing, just to name some of the type of exhibits. The ranging collection even includes such oddities as a lock of Poe's hair collected after his death and some socks that were found in a trunk that belonged to the author. There is even a scale model of the city of Richmond as Poe would have experienced it.  The museum currently claims the largest collection of Poe-related items in the world, whether the city of Richmond likes it or not.      

Related Tags

Edgar Allan Poe Literature Museums And Collections Museums

Community Contributors

Added By

cryowulf

Edited By

Mom0ja, lysyee, robvelella, rubicat...

  • Mom0ja
  • lysyee
  • robvelella
  • rubicat
  • DepressoExploring
  • EricGrundhauser
  • SEANETTA
  • ickaimp
  • ski queen
  • breaingram
  • PushingUpDaisies
  • paigeelizabeth3660
  • cait7911
  • SemiruralYeti
  • elemenope
  • Jason Michael Walker
  • travelsyte

Published

April 1, 2015

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe_Museum_(Richmond,_Virginia)
Edgar Allan Poe Museum
1914-16 East Main Street
Richmond, Virginia, 23223
United States
37.532282, -77.425975
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

The Triple Crossing

Richmond, Virginia

miles away

Church Hill Tunnel

Richmond, Virginia

miles away

Henry "Box" Brown

Richmond, Virginia

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Richmond

Richmond

Virginia

Places 19
Stories 4

Nearby Places

The Triple Crossing

Richmond, Virginia

miles away

Church Hill Tunnel

Richmond, Virginia

miles away

Henry "Box" Brown

Richmond, Virginia

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Richmond

Richmond

Virginia

Places 19
Stories 4

Related Stories and Lists

12 Important Places in Edgar Allan Poe's Life (and Death)

List

By Atlas Obscura

10 Places That Rejected Poe in Life But Celebrate Him in Death

edgar allan poe

By Molly McBride Jacobson

The Strange Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe’s Hair

edgar allan poe

By Elon Green

Related Places

  • The Outsiders House

    Tulsa, Oklahoma

    The Outsiders House Museum

    Once in disrepair, the house where the 1983 film was shot has been restored and turned into a museum.

  • The Writer’s Museum.

    Edinburgh, Scotland

    The Writers' Museum

    This small museum in a 17th-century building honors three iconic Scottish writers.

  • Historical markers at Willa Cather Memorial Prairie.

    Red Cloud, Nebraska

    Willa Cather Prairie

    Over 600 acres of idyllic open grassland honor Nebraska’s georgic storyteller.

  • The entrance to the Story Museum

    Oxford, England

    The Story Museum

    An Oxford museum where visitors can have tea with the Mad Hatter and climb through the wardrobe to a fantasy land.

  • “The Machine,” a display at the Kafka Museum.

    Prague, Czechia

    Franz Kafka Museum

    An eerie, existential museum dedicated to the author of "The Metamorphosis."

  • Franconia, New Hampshire

    The Frost Place

    A short nature trail winds through the greatest works of poet Robert Frost.

  • Main display from ground level

    Aubagne, France

    Little World of Marcel Pagnol

    A miniature diorama that recounts the brilliant stories of author and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol.

  • Display covering Buchan’s love of the outdoors and time in South Africa

    Peebles, Scotland

    The John Buchan Story Museum

    A small literary museum remembers the life and works of the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.