From February to December 1826, 17-year-old Edgar Allan Poe attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. This is the interior of his room, #13 (naturally) on the West Range, which has been maintained by UVA's Raven Society for over a century. Number 13 was first restored to its 1826 look back in 1907, and then re-restored in 1950s. According to the Society's website, that's actually Poe's old bed, from the Allan home in Richmond, VA.
I was in Charlottesville this past weekend with my family, visiting a dear old friend who insisted on showing us this room. So glad he did. Because later, when we toured Monticello, the year "1826" clicked for me. Seems that Thomas Jefferson liked to check on the progress of his University from his study at Monticello, and would look down through a telescope at the construction of the famous Rotunda. Jefferson died July 4, 1826, a few months before the Rotunda was complete.
Does this mean that Jefferson could have caught a glimpse of a youthful Edgar Poe, playing sports on the famous Lawn, during the spring/early summer of 1826?
I'd like to think so.
(Photo by Meredith Swierczynski. Click on the image for a larger view.)
