GPS City GuideRichmondEdgar Allan Poe Museum

Stop 20 of 29 · Richmond audio walking tour

Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Shockoe Bottom · 1740 · Richmond's Oldest Stone House

What you'll hear here: about a minute on what happened at Edgar Allan Poe Museum and around Shockoe Bottom — the audio starts on its own when you walk into range.

Old stones from circa 1740 house the Poe Museum, the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, here in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom. This museum is dedicated to American writer Edgar Allan Poe and, though Poe never lived in this particular building, it commemorates his time living in Richmond. Inside you will find one of the world's largest collections of original manuscripts, letters, first editions, memorabilia, and personal belongings that illuminate his life and work. The museum also offers an overview of early 19th century Richmond and features Poe's life and career through pictures, relics, and verse, focusing on his many years in this city.

The museum occupies the Old Stone House, built circa 1740 and cited as the oldest original residential building in Richmond. That stone house was built by Jacob Ege, who immigrated from Germany to Philadelphia in 1738 and came to the James River settlements and Col. Wm. Byrd's land grant, now known as Richmond, in the company of the family of his fiancée, Maria Dorothea Scheerer, whom he later married; the house was called a "Home for the Bride."

These old stones and the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood stretch out before you.

Where it is

Coordinates
37.53211, -77.42603
Area
Shockoe Bottom
Era
1740 · Richmond's Oldest Stone House
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.