I recently flew to Richmond, Virginia, to attend the annual Birthday Bash for Edgar Allan Poe. It is held at the Poe Museum. I stayed at the Berkeley Hotel which is a 12 minute walk from the museum. The Berkeley is located in the Shockoe Slip area in the business district. Fashionable Shockoe Slip is a downtown dining hub, with Southern-style restaurants, BBQ joints, gastropubs, and taprooms tucked down narrow alleyways and in former warehouses. This post may contain affiliate links and we may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you. The boutique hotel seems period, however, it was built in 1988. The original owner was careful to fashion it architecturally after the other historic buildings in the area. Alan M. Voorhees designed it to be in a European style and named it after the Berkeley Castle and Plantation in England. Mr. Malcom Jamieson, the…
My trip is booked and tickets purchased for one of the exciting events of the year – at least for Poe lovers. Every year the Poe Museum in Richmond throws a huge party for the poet’s birthday. People come from all over to attend. In the beginning, staff and volunteers hosted the party for 24 hours. Let that sink in for a second. The curator told me they would bring mattresses or bedding and sleep on the floor in some of the buildings awaiting visitors. But, in the wee hours no one was visiting so they changed to a 12 hour format. I made it 6 1/2 hours on my first try, however, I flew in for the day and night and didn’t arrive in the city in enough time to stay the full length of the event. This year I am working with a strategy, including a trolley tour…