Boston, Massachusetts saw the birth of Edgar Poe in 1809. Richmond, Virginia raised Edgar Allan Poe into a southern gentleman and gave him his middle name. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was home for Poe during his most productive years as a writer. The Bronx (then Fordham), New York served as Poe’s final residence. Baltimore, Maryland saw the death of Poe and there he remains forevermore. These cities each hold their own significant claim to the great American writer while ⁠Providence, Rhode Island is usually never more than a footnote in Poe’s biography.   

With the success of “The Raven” published in New York’s Evening Mirror in 1845, Edgar Allan Poe had finally made a name for himself. Fame proved to be a complicated facet of Poe’s life, as his reputation was tainted with gossip and drama, resulting in his exclusion from his contemporaries’ circles. However, fame allowed him to begin a lecture tour, as interest in the author of “The Raven” spread nationwide. This tour was a reasonable source of income for Poe, unlike his writing. Providence’s Franklin Lyceum hosted Poe for a lecture on December 20, 1848, but it was a popular female poet, Frances Sargent Osgood, that initially brought Poe to Providence in 1845.

It was during that first visit that Poe laid eyes on the ethereal Sarah Helen Whitman while she was tending her rose garden in the backyard of her home on Benefit Street. This inspired Poe’s second titled poem “To Helen” and brought him back to Providence a few years later to pursue a relationship with the beautiful widow. The courtship between these two poets rapidly progressed into an engagement, initiating a wild and distracted story here in Rhode Island from September to December, 1848.

It was here that Poe procured two ounces of laudanum as his poison of choice for a poorly attempted suicide. It was here that Poe sat on two separate occasions to have his daguerreotype taken, one of which became his favorite likeness of himself, and the other, his most infamous picture ever taken. While Poe never lived in Providence, his time here had a major effect on his life. His relationship with Sarah Helen Whitman proved vital, as she became a staunch defender of his reputation after his death in 1849, leading up until her own death in 1878.

This site shares the story of The Raven in our Renaissance City while compiling every piece of history related to Edgar Allan Poe and Sarah Helen Whitman in Rhode Island.

About the creator of edgarallanpoeri.com and A Walking Tour of Poe’s Providence, Levi Lionel Leland:

I am a born and raised Rhode Islander residing in my hometown of Coventry. I have been a devoted Edgar Allan Poe aficionado since I was twelve years old. After visiting every Poe house/museum in the country within the first few years of learning his name, I came to focus on his ties to my own home state after realizing how intense his time here truly was. Our capital city of Providence bore witness to his tempestuous relationship with our own poetess, Sarah Helen Whitman, and much, much more. After creating this website to compile everything I could about Poe, Whitman, and their time in Rhode Island, I created A Walking Tour of Poe’s Providence that had a successful debut in 2021. I guide public and private tours annually, allowing me to present my knowledge of Poe and his history here in Providence to the public. I also give presentations on this subject at various historical and intellectual institutions throughout the state, expanding my reach to those who may not be able to take the walking tour. Through these endeavors, I have been able to resurrect the legacy of Sarah Helen Whitman, who has slid under the radar quite substantially in Poe studies. Highlighting her life and legacy both inside and outside of her connection to Poe has been one of my greatest, albeit inadvertent, achievements. Through recent research, I discovered that Sarah Helen Whitman is my sixth cousin six times removed. We share a great grandfather named John Gould VII (1584-1650) from Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England.

When I am not researching or guiding tours, you can find me sipping coffee and exploring my favorite little cemeteries. I am a docent for Providence’s North Burial Ground, Rhode Island’s first municipal cemetery established in 1700. It was open to people of all races, classes, and religions. Not to mention, Sarah Helen Whitman is buried there! I have participated in creating and hosting multiple events regarding Whitman and Poe through the cemetery’s expansive programming. I am the author of Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre, published by Simon & Schuster. I am an honorary member of The Providence Athenaeum, the library where Poe and Whitman spent many hours during their courtship. My “day job” is in Special Education, which I find both enjoyable and rewarding.

Whether you are a Rhode Islander, New Englander, or a Poe fan, I hope that you enjoy all that this site has to offer! You can contact me with any comments, inquiries, suggestions for the site, or to schedule a walking tour. I will be happy to hear from you!