Edgar Allan Poe: An Afternoon at the Wissahickon

Photo by Michael W. Murphy - Used by Creative Commons License

Photo - Michael W. Murphy, used by Creative Commons License via Flickr
by Melissa Juliet Sagendorph

Even during a bleak, snowy December afternoon, it’s hard to imagine the Wissahickon Valley Park serving as inspiration for one of the most notoriously macabre poets in American history. A wide brook flows quietly through sloping trails and thick forests, edged on either side by rocky hills. The knobbly paths have been battered down by hikers and joggers, cheerily zig-zagging past the spinning wheels of mountain bikes. A favorite spot for pet owners, the mossy grounds are overrun by midday with ...

To continue enjoying this please login or subscribe today.

Related Articles

Edgar Allan Poe’s Richmond

The Poe Shrine is an open brick shelter, constructed of materials salvaged from the Southern Literary Messenger building where Poe worked as an editor. A bust of the poet looks out on an island of green grass, a two-tiered fountain, and a stone planter overflowing with begonias.

Scholar, Athlete, and Artist: Edgar Allan Poe At University of Virginia

In 1826, Edgar Allan Poe attended the University of Virginia to receive the liberal education promised to him by his foster father, John Allan. Almost 200 years later, I visited Charlottesville in search of background ambiance for a novel I was writing about Poe’s stint as a college student. Although Poe had only turned 17 just three weeks before his arrival, John Allan’s influence with the school’s administrators cleared the way for his charge’s early admission.

Poe on Sullivan’s Island

On a chilly autumn day in the year of the new millennium, I head my car out of Charleston, South Carolina up the coast, across the river and marshes to Sullivan’s Island, now a settled community of mostly year round residents. Meandering, I could turn left onto Gold Bug Avenue, or Raven Drive, or turn right onto Poe Avenue, names commemorating a writer’s stay on this little sea island.