6. Poe’s Bedroom

There are no official records to establish which member of the Poe family occupied which room but historians believe that Poe lived in this room on the second floor because the window provides the best natural writing light. Visitors can look at a window painting to see what the view may have looked like when Poe gazed out of the window in the 1840s. He would have smelled the fresh food from the open-air Spring Garden Market across the street and the horses that lived in the stables at Lukens Inn. Virginia was sick with tuberculosis during her stay in Philadelphia which could explain why she and Poe didn’t share a room.

Virginia likely lived in the room on the right on the third and highest floor. Due to her illness, Virginia needed fresh air and quiet. The third-floor room was positioned furthest from the street and the stables and would have provided the calmest environment and cleanest air for the ailing woman. No amount of rest or fresh air was able to cure Virginia as she died in 1847 in Poe Cottage, located in the Bronx, in New York City.