Literary museum housed in Richmond's oldest residential building, where staff and visitors report a shadowy figure tied to Poe and two blond child apparitions in the Enchanted Garden.
1914 E Main St, Richmond, VA 23223
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
General admission typically under $10; check museum website for current ticket pricing and member discounts.
Access
Limited Access
Historic building with narrow stairs and uneven thresholds; partial access on ground level only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1740 · National Register of Historic Places · Oldest original residential building in Richmond · Opened as Poe Shrine 1922 · Major Poe manuscript and artifact collection
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum at 1914 East Main Street is centered on the Old Stone House, a small fieldstone dwelling built around 1740 by Jacob Ege, a German immigrant who settled in the early colonial outpost that would become Richmond. The building is regularly cited as the oldest original residential structure standing within the city limits and predates Edgar Allan Poe by nearly a century.
Poe himself never lived in the Old Stone House. He was born in Boston in 1809 and brought to Richmond after the death of his mother Eliza, where he was taken in (though never legally adopted) by the merchant John Allan and his wife Frances. Poe spent his formative years in Richmond before his disastrous year at the University of Virginia and his early literary career in Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia. He returned to Richmond as editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in the 1830s.
The museum was organized by the Poe Foundation, Inc. in 1921 and opened to the public in 1922 as the Edgar Allan Poe Shrine. James H. Whitty and a group of Richmond enthusiasts assembled the founding collection, which has grown to include Poe's boyhood bed, his vest, his trunk, letters, manuscripts, and the hand mirror that belonged to his wife and cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm. Subsequent acquisitions expanded the museum into adjacent buildings around a central courtyard now landscaped as the Enchanted Garden, planted in honor of Poe's poem 'To Helen.'
The property is operated as a 501(c)(3) literary museum and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Two black cats, Edgar and Pluto, were taken in as resident strays and have become an unofficial fixture of the courtyard. The museum continues to host academic Poe scholarship as well as public programming around Halloween and Poe's January birthday.
Sources
According to Richmond Ghosts and the Rails to Trails Conservancy feature on the museum, at least three ghosts are commonly reported across the Poe Museum complex: a tall, shadowy male figure widely interpreted as Poe himself, and two blond boys most often seen in the Enchanted Garden.
The shadow figure is reportedly drawn to specific exhibits, particularly Poe's walking stick and the hand mirror that belonged to Virginia Clemm. Visitors have described being followed through hallways and feeling a presence near the artifact cases. The staircase has been the site of the most negative reports — Richmond Ghosts documents one woman who said she felt an unseen force try to push her, and a second visitor who tripped on the stairs and felt a hand grab her arm.
The two blond boys are most often described in the open-air courtyard called the Enchanted Garden. Richmond Ghosts and US Ghost Adventures both note their alleged appearances in wedding party photographs taken on the museum grounds and report that visitors have seen them seemingly playing with the museum's resident black cats, Edgar and Pluto. Other commonly reported phenomena include a chair scooting on its own and a ball rolling unprompted in the upstairs gallery rooms.
The museum itself takes a measured editorial position on its paranormal reputation, programming periodic 'Unhappy Hour' events with Poe readings and themed cocktails rather than marketing the building as actively haunted.
Notable Entities
Walk through five historic buildings centered on the c. 1740 Old Stone House, viewing Poe artifacts including his walking stick, letters, and the hand mirror of his wife Virginia Clemm. Allow time for the Enchanted Garden where visitors have reported child apparitions in photographs.
Periodic evening events featuring Poe readings, themed cocktails, and discussion of the museum's documented paranormal reports. Check the museum's events calendar.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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