4. The Raven Mantel at Columbia University
Located in Butler Library at Columbia University, the Raven Mantel is an architectural remnant of Poe’s room at the Brennan farmhouse. It was saved when the farmhouse was demolished because it had a cameo in the famous poem, The Raven. Poe even allegedly etched his initials into it. Check out our previous coverage of the mantel’s odyssey from the farmhouse to Columbia, where Untapped Cities discovered it lying fallow in a storage room.
After being unearthed from storage, the mantelpiece was later moved to a more visible location. Articles by Untapped staff in Columbia Magazine and The New York Times helped call attention to this architectural piece of literary history.