The Edgar Allan Poe House is a historic home located in Caldwell County at 506 Main Street NW in

Lenoir, North Carolina Lenoir is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,263 at the 2020 census. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the north ...

. The two-story

Dutch Colonial Revival Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Rev ...

style house with wraparound porch and gambrel roof was built in 1905 by Edgar Allan Poe, who was not the famous Boston poet born 1809. After finishing law school, Poe moved to Asheville in 1890 and worked as a carpenter with local architecture firm Alfonse, building structures in Hickory. Additionally Poe contributed to the beginning construction of Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous ci ...

. The business district in the town of Lenoir was founded in 1841. Growth was slow until the arrival of Chester & Lenoir Railroad in 1884, which boosted trade and industrial development. During this local industrial boom, Poe moved from his native home of

Dallas, North Carolina Dallas is a town in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, and a suburb of Charlotte, located north of Gastonia. The population was 4,488 at the 2010 census. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States under Ja ...

to Lenoir in 1893. Poe constructed several commercial buildings in Lenoir including the Courtney Building (1907) and the Lenoir Furniture and Hardware Building (1908). The largest contract attributed to Poe was the construction of the Caldwell County Courthouse (1903). In 1897 on October 28th Edgar Allan Poe married Eugenia Maude Miller, daughter of a pioneering family who moved to Caldwell County in the early 1890s. The Miller family owned property on North Main Street and built a house where Eugenia Maude lived until marriage. Poe built his first house in the neighborhood of his in-laws, on Scroggs Street. Poe's two children, Eugene Allan (1898-1964) and Carolyn Ransom (1903-1979), were born in the house on Scroggs Street. In 1905, the Poe family bought a half acre on North Main Street and began constructing their second home. This second house on North Main Street remained in ownership of the Poe family until August 1999. Poe was an active member of the community as an architect, a prolific builder, a lawyer, and the mayor of Lenoir for four years. The home was restored by Joel Kincaid and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in March of 2001.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Colonial Revival architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1905 Houses in Caldwell County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Caldwell County, North Carolina 1905 establishments in North Carolina {{CaldwellCountyNC-NRHP-stub

See also

References