Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site

Inky and I had another adventure last weekend! Since both of us are homeschooled, we often get to read really cool books that other kids might not have the chance to read in school. It turns out both of us are big fans of Edgar Allan Poe. We got the chance to visit one of his homes, in Philadelphia, on Saturday.


Here we are on the front steps of the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site. In order to get in, you have to bang the knocker once. Then, a park ranger will let you in. We were a little nervous! The ranger reassured us that when they restored the house, they checked under all the floorboards!


The first thing we did was ask if the Site had a Junior Ranger program- they did! We got our booklets and got to work. We saw a video about Poe's life and looked over the exhibits. One of the rangers asked us if we'd like to go on a ranger tour. Of course we did!


She showed us all over Poe's house. There wasn't any furniture, but we climbed up the narrow staircases and looked out his windows. We learned that Edgar Poe married his cousin, Virginia Clem, when she was only thirteen! Wow! That's not much older than me and Inky. We agreed that we definitely are not ready to get married, even if a famous author asked us.


The last room we saw on our tour was the cellar. It was dark and damp. The ranger told us a scary story called "The Black Cat." Then she revealed the false chimney that inspired the story! Inky and I got shivers up and down our backs. You'll have to read the story yourself to find out why! This picture is of us climbing on the false chimney.


After the tour, the ranger gave us keys to a large trunk. We had to complete several activities with the items in the trunk in order to complete our Junior Ranger booklet. When we finished, we received our badges! One of the rangers took our picture with the ranger who led our tour.

Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site is definitely the creepiest National Park we've been to so far!