Edgar Allan Poe Dorm Room - Charlottesville

Edgar Allan Poe's dorm room is located on West Range, at the intersection of Poe Alley and McCormick Road, on the campus of the University of Virginia.  It was here the future author spent one semester, from February to December, 1826.  Poe attended courses in the School of Ancient Languages and the School of Modern Languages, but money, always an issue, was not as forthcoming from his guardian, John Allan, as he wished, and he left the university by the end of the year.  His year at the school left little impression on his teachers and he was generally a good student, with nothing of note to cause any untoward interest in him.  Since most of the student records, along with Poe's, were destroyed in the Rotunda fire of 1895, his exact whereabouts during his time here can't be definitely traced.  Oral tradition places him first in a room on the West Lawn, then in this room, on the West Range, and possibly another room at no. 17.  The importance of Poe's presence at the university was first mentioned by English professor Charles W. Kent, who championed the late author in the years beginning after the Rotunda fire.  The Raven Society was formed at the university in 1904 and in 1906 they were given 13 West Range as a museum, which opened in 1909.  Over the years it has been renovated several times to bring it more closely to its look during Poe's time.  Today visitors can look inside the room, which stands open, protected by a glass barrier.     

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