Edgar Allan Poe was the 19th-century “master of the macabre,” conjuring horror stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Gothic poems like “The Raven,” about a grieving lover tormented by a bird that replies only, “Nevermore.”

Poe was born in Boston but spent his childhood and launched his writing career in Richmond. Not far from where he grew up is a museum boasting the world’s largest collection of memorabilia, ephemera and artifacts about America’s first internationally influential writer. On May 1, AARP Virginia organized a tour of the Poe Museum.

The museum occupies the Old Stone House, the oldest home still standing in Richmond (built in the mid-1700s), in the city’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood.

Poe lived in Richmond for more than 13 of his 40 years — longer than he lived anywhere else — said Meg Luffman, the museum’s education coordinator, who led the tour.

“A lot of places can claim Poe, but Poe claimed us,” Luffman said. “He claimed Richmond. He claimed Virginia. He said, ‘I am a Virginian.’” … [My article for AARP]