The famously morose poet and writer was stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island from November 1827 to December 1828.
Gold Bug: Artist Léon Pierre Herpin’s illustration for Poe’s short story “The Gold-Bug” in a collection of his stories published in France.
Another edition published in 1902.
In addition to “The Gold-Bug,” Poe’s works with references to the Lowcountry include “The Oblong Box” (1844), a mystery on a sea voyage from Charleston to New York, and what’s known as “The Balloon-Hoax” (1844), presented as a true story in The New York Sun.
Given his tenuous connection to Charleston, why has the author been so deeply written into its cultural history?
University of Texas professor Robert Adger Law theorized that while stationed at Fort Moultrie, Poe may have researched old newspaper files for accounts of his parents’ theatrical careers in Charleston and discovered “The Mourner,” an earlier poem with striking similarities to “Annabel Lee.”
While many believe “Annabel Lee” was inspired by Poe’s wife, Virginia Clemm Poe, who died from tuberculosis at 24, scholars generally view the character as fictional.
The shrine at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, opened to the public in April 1922, commemorating his time in the city.
Novelists DuBose Heyward and Hervey Allen each wrote a poem about Poe’s time in the Lowcountry in their 1922 collection, Carolina Chansons.
Poe edited The Conchologist’s First Book, an illustrated textbook on the study of shells, published in 1839
The diorama Poe on Sullivan’s Island by Dwight Franklin, commissioned by Charleston Museum director Laura Bragg
Winning the writing contest for Philadelphia’s The Dollar newspaper, Poe’s short story “The Gold-Bug” was published in installments, beginning on June 21, 1843. He received $100 prize money—purportedly the most he was paid for any of his writings.
One legend attributes the headstone labeled “A.L.R.” at the Unitarian Churchyard to Annabel Lee Ravenel, while records show it belongs to the Rose family plot.
Learn about his time on Sullivan’s Island and the mysterious woman said to have inspired “Annabel Lee”
