A Walking Tour of Poe’s Providence: 2025 Season

The tour schedule is posted! You can purchase your tickets by following this link here. Dates run from September to November. If you have any questions, please reach out to me, Levi, at levi@edgarallanpoeri.com. Hope to see you on a tour!

Edgar Allan Poe came to Providence, Rhode Island in 1845 and returned in 1848, drawn by the magnetic presence of Sarah Helen Whitman: poet, essayist, critic, and spiritualist. What followed was no ordinary courtship, but a tempestuous affair ignited by the black flames of two gothic literary souls.

This 1.5 mile tour is owned and operated by native Rhode Islander, creator of edgarallanpoeri.com, and author of the recent title Edgar Allan Poe: The Master of the Macabre (Adams Media—imprint of Simon & Schuster), Levi Lionel Leland. Discover Poe’s Providence through a real expert on the topic! This is the only tour that covers Poe’s full time in the city and digs into the life and works of Sarah Helen Whitman—a mysterious and often misinterpreted woman in Providence’s history. Leland also happens to be a distant relative of Whitman’s…

The tour begins and concludes outside of the Sarah Helen Whitman House at 88 Benefit Street. Parking is usually easy and widely available along Benefit Street. The tour has a few slight hills and varied terrains (sidewalks, stairs, cobblestones, bricks, and graveyards) so be sure to wear appropriate footwear. Note that the tour touches on topics of death, horror, alcoholism, and suicide.

This is A Walking Tour of Poe’s Providence’s FIFTH year! I’m so grateful for the continued support. This endeavor has only grown over the years and gotten better! If you’ve taken a tour with me in the past, you will find a slightly different experience this year. So, usher in the autumn season with the Master of the Macabre and his ties to our Creative Capital!

Welcome to Edgar Allan Poe: Rhode Island!

Edgar Allan Poe is associated with many places throughout the east coast of the United States, but rarely do people realize Poe’s significance to Providence, Rhode Island. Albeit brief, his time in Providence resulted in some of the most incredible moments of his life. Edgar Allan Poe: Rhode Island’s mission is to elaborate on those events and to highlight our claim on Poe’s legacy. In the process, we will shed some well-deserved light the Providence-born poetess and one-time fiancée of Poe’s, Sarah Helen Whitman.