Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, the Poet’s Farmhouse in Fordham
Edgar Allan Poe Cottage is a small wooden house in Poe Park, in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx, where the writer lived with his wife and mother-in-law from 1846. It is a quiet, humble stop far from Manhattan’s big sights, and one of the best places in the five boroughs to feel the American literary past.
A famously gloomy poet spent two of his hardest years in a tiny country cottage that now sits in a city park in the Bronx, moved from its original spot in 1913.
The history of Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
The house is believed to have been built in 1797. In May 1846 the Poe family moved in: the writer Edgar Allan Poe, his wife Virginia Clemm and her mother, Maria, who had lived briefly in Turtle Bay, Manhattan. At that time Fordham was a rural village, not yet part of the Bronx, and had only recently been linked to the city by rail. The cottage stood on Kingsbridge Road, east of Valentine Avenue, on about two acres of land. It was small and simple: a sitting room and kitchen on the ground floor, and an unheated upper floor with a bedroom and Poe’s study. Songbirds in cages hung on the front porch.
Despite its modest furnishings, visitors and the family itself remembered the place as charming and refined. Here Poe wrote the poems “Annabel Lee” and “Ulalume”, and published his controversial series about New York’s literary figures, “The Literati of New York City”. His last short story, “Landor’s Cottage”, was probably inspired by the house. The Poes befriended their neighbors, including the family of the owner, John Valentine, and Poe grew close to the Jesuit teachers of nearby St. John’s College, today Fordham University, whose church bells are said to have inspired his poem “The Bells”.
It was also a house of grief. Virginia struggled with tuberculosis and died in the ground-floor bedroom on January 30, 1847. Poe himself died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849, and Maria only learned of his death two days later, after he was already buried. She soon left the cottage.
What followed is uncertain: the house was reportedly occupied by an elderly southern lady, and by 1874 a visitor found it badly out of repair. It was sold at auction in 1889 to William Fearing Gill, later Poe’s first American biographer. In 1895 the New York Shakespeare Society bought it as a headquarters, and in 1896 a magazine article, backed by figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling, urged the state to save it. In 1905 the state legislature authorized funds to restore the cottage and create a park for it. The move was controversial, but on November 13, 1913 the house was dedicated in its new home in Poe Park, at Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse. The New-York Historical Society restored it further in 1922.
The cottage became a Bronx landmark in 1962 and a New York City landmark in 1966, and has been run by the Bronx County Historical Society since 1975. It also belongs to the Historic House Trust and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Vandalism was a recurring problem in the 1970s and 1980s, eased in part by live-in caretakers. In 2008 a visitor center designed by Toshiko Mori opened beside it.
Little-known facts about Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
- The cottage is not where it was built. It was moved a short distance in 1913 and now stands in the northern part of Poe Park.
- While Poe wrote “Annabel Lee” and “Ulalume” here, the family cat is said to have sat on his shoulder.
- In 1889 the house changed hands at auction. The buyer, William Fearing Gill, later became Poe’s first American biographer.
- The 1896 campaign to save the house was backed by Theodore Roosevelt, William Dean Howells and Rudyard Kipling, among others.
- A friend of the family described the cottage as so neat, so poor and so unfurnished, and yet so charming, that he had never seen another like it.
- In the late 1990s the cottage was looked after by a graduate student of philology who lived in the basement.
Tours near Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:
Visiting Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
- The cottage stands in Poe Park, a public park in Fordham. The house can be admired from outside; the sources do not give interior rules, so check the current opening hours and access conditions with the Bronx County Historical Society before you go.
- The visitor center beside it, designed by Toshiko Mori and opened in 2008, is part of the site and is where the Bronx County Historical Society presents the house.
- The house is very small, with a sitting room and kitchen below and a bedroom and study above, so it is a short stop rather than a half-day visit.
- The surrounding Fordham area has other places on this site, such as the Paradise Theater, about a kilometer away, which makes a good Bronx half-day.
Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.
Map: where Edgar Allan Poe Cottage is
Photos of Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
Where to stay near Edgar Allan Poe Cottage
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Questions
What is Edgar Allan Poe Cottage?
It is the former home of the writer Edgar Allan Poe in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx. The Poe family lived here from 1846, and it is now a historic house museum in Poe Park.
Did Poe write famous poems at the cottage?
Yes. Sources say he wrote “Annabel Lee” and “Ulalume” here, and that the bells of the nearby Jesuit college inspired “The Bells”.
Is the cottage in its original location?
No. It originally stood on Kingsbridge Road, east of Valentine Avenue, and was moved a short distance into what became Poe Park in 1913.
Who looks after the cottage today?
The Bronx County Historical Society has administered it since 1975. It is also part of the Historic House Trust and a New York City landmark.
Where did Virginia Poe die?
She died of tuberculosis in the ground-floor bedroom of the cottage on January 30, 1847.
Can I visit it in one trip with other Bronx sights?
Yes. It is a small house, so it fits well into a day with other Bronx stops such as the Paradise Theater, which is about a kilometer away.
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