Edgar Allan Poe Museum, Richmond, Va.

If you visit Richmond, make time to visit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum on East Main Street. It's on the same street as the Main Street Station and the Farmer's Market.

This is the front of the museum. It is a home from the era of Poe's childhood, though not one he ever lived in or visited.

You'll get to walk through several rooms with artifacts from Poe's life in Richmond. He lived there early in his life before moving to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and back to Richmond at various times throughout his adult life.

Poe's mother, a traveling actress, died when he was 3 and John Allan, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Frances Valentine Allan, took him in.

I really liked the portraits; original manuscripts, including those of Poe's sister Rosalie; and the layout of Richmond during Poe's lifetime, showing where he lived, went to school and worked.

You can't take photos inside the rooms, but you can outside in the courtyard.

This bust of Poe sits under a shelter in the courtyard behind the main museum building. I'm not really sure why people have left coins for the dead poet.

Here's the front and back side of the information you're given for the self-guided tour. It also includes a map layout of the buildings and grounds.

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Don't know much about Edgar Allan Poe? Check out these books.

    

And you most definitely should read Poe's work.