I almost immediately noticed a photo of Edgar Allan Poe near the Linden Row Inn check-in desk.
I am in Richmond, Virginia, where I knew Poe lived as a child, but I didn’t realize his connection with the inn until I checked in.
The inn’s staff was invaluable and friendly. They explained where to park (at a garage a block away) and encouraged me to ask if I needed anything while I stayed in this historic location.
Edgar Allan Poe Connection
After I checked the inn’s website, it didn’t take me long to understand Poe’s connection.
In 1811, Elizabeth Poe, an actress performing in a traveling company at the Richmond Theater, became ill and died, leaving two young children orphaned. Mr. and Mrs. John Allan raised Elizabeth’s son Edgar Poe and gave him Allan for his middle name. Returning from a five-year trip to England, the Allans (including Edgar) lived with Mr. Allan’s business partner, Charles Ellis.
It was in the gardens that Edgar Allan Poe played with the Ellis children. Local legend has it that the enchanted garden known for its roses, jasmine, and linden trees, is what Poe mentions in his famous poem “To Helen.” Historians have also noted that young Poe first courted his life-long love, Elmira Royster, in the garden where the Linden Row Inn now stands.
Row Houses
Eventually, row houses were built on the property.
Two of the original buildings were razed in 1922 to make way for the Medical Arts Building, now known as Linden Towers. Mary Wingfield Scott, a noted local architectural historian, saved the eight remaining houses from being razed in 1950. She later gave the property to the Historic Richmond Foundation (now known as Historic Richmond) in 1980.
Linden Row Inn, restored in 1988 as a full-service inn, features the original architecture. Today, the hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places and regarded as the nation’s best surviving row of Greek revival architecture.
The property is like nothing else I have experienced. I had to go down a half-flight of stairs and up again to get to my room, which was large and furnished with antique pieces from the mid- and late 1800s.
The hotel is centrally located in the city, making it easy to get to all the attractions I wanted to see.
If you enjoy historic accommodations and a little mystery, you’ll appreciate Linden Row Inn.
Click here for more information. To learn about all the city attractions and restaurants, click here.
Images courtesy of Linden Row Inn
