Poe In Richmond!?!
Most people associate the iconic American author Edgar Allen Poe with Baltimore. But anybody who has seen “The Following” knows that Richmond was the site of his childhood, adolescence, and many of the events that shaped his grim prose.
Poe’s (very attractive, judging by the picture on the right) mother, actress Elizabeth Poe, married a young Richmond actor David Poe Jr. and shortly thereafter moved to Boston. They came back to Richmond in 1809 in order to be a part of the Richmond Theater group. During this time, they split up and David Poe returned North while Poe, his sister, and Eliza stayed in Richmond.
Then,in 1811, tragedy struck.
Edgar’s mother died of tuberculosis in 1811 after 2 months coughing up blood… forcing the Richmond Theater to push back a performance 2 days when a tragic theater fire struck killing 72 of 600 people.
That’s a different story for a different day (namely a day you come on the tour).
Adoption By John Allan
Edgar was adopted by John Allan, a Scottish immigrant merchant who eventually would be the recipient of a large inheritance from his business mentor William Gault, another Scotsman.
John Allan had no problem flaunting his new found wealth. Allan had a fairly successful business before receiving this inheritance, but he was more a member of the middle class than running around in the upper-crust of Richmond’s gentile society. This inheritance enhanced his social standing and his ego.
Childhood and Adolescence
Growing up in Richmond, Edgar had many friends, as well as a happier disposition than we normally associate with the author.
The son of two actors, he participated in a Thespian Society with some friends. They set up shop in an old wood building on the North East corner of 6th and Marshall in a tent outside of the Academy on Broad Street and charged the handsome fee of one penny for admission.
Allan did not like Poe’s association with “dissolute” actors.
Poe was athletic in his youth. He once swam six miles in the James river without stopping according to Colonel Robert Mayo.
His friends included a Robert Sully, an Ebeneezer Burling, who inspired his character “August Bernard” in one of his tales; and a boy named Stannard. Edgar spent a lot of time with Stannard’s mother. He would visit with her often for many hours. Most sources say it was probably a bit of a boyhood crush. A few years later she passed away and according to Poe’s friend and her son, this is when Poe began to take on his well known melancholy character. This was continuing the theme of females in his life departing from his in crushing fashion.
After moving to England with his parents to study for a few years, he went back to Richmond.
Edgar had a very good relationship with his adoptive mother and her sister (his Aunt Nancy). He had a very different, tumultuous relationship with his adopted father, John Allan. Allan had several affairs once he broke through to the upper levels of society.
Edgar knew about these affairs and was….. let’s just say… less than subtle when it came his resentment of his adoptive father.
In exchange, John would constantly berate Poe. He called him worthless and constantly threatened to write him out of his will.
Then, his adoptive mother passed away and later his Aunt Nancy. Once more, he was heartbroken by the loss of women of his life
A courtship In Peril
In 1825, as a teenager, he developed a relationship with Sarah Elmira Royster. She was the daughter of a wealthy family and since Edgar was the heir to Allan fortune, her parents approved.
Unfortunately, they began courting a few months prior to Edgar going away to the University of Virginia.
If you think long distance relationship are hard in the time of cel phones and Skype, imagine this:
John Allan was not in favor of Edgar going to University. He wanted Poe to follow his footsteps in the merchant trade. To this end, he gave very little, if any, financial support to Poe, causing him to accrue massive debt from gambling and basic living expenses.
John Allan wrote him out of his will.
Sarah Royster’s parents learned of this and began intercepting her and Edgar’s letters to each other. When Poe returned to Richmond during winter break, Royster was already engaged to another.
This was a crushing blow for Edgar Allan Poe.
So he went to the military and then West Point, eventually dropping out to pursue writing full time.
Back to Richmond – 1835
He missed Richmond, his home, and came back to work for the Southern Literary Messenger. His goal was to put the writers of the South on the same footing with the writers of the North.
Here he wrote masterful pieces and gained a reputation as the father of American literary criticism.
He was fired after several months for alcoholism.
He left Richmond to make his name in the North until returning in 1849 to pass away in July.
Poe’s time in Richmond can best be described as, well, depressing.
But any fans of Poe and literature should understand that Richmond had a major influence in the writing’s of Edgar Allan Poe and it is impossible to study his works without analyses done through this lens.
The Poe Museum in Richmond
To learn more about Poe in Richmond, visit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum that is located in the “Old Stone House” which is the oldest house in Richmond. It’s worth the time for a visit if you’re a Poe fan.