Edgar Allan Poe in Irvine: Cemetery Tour & Pub Talk

Cemetery Tour & Talk in Irvine where legend claims a young Edgar Allan Poe learned his letters by tracing names & symbols on gravestones.

Edgar Allan Poe spent part of his childhood in Scotland, after being orphaned at a young age and taken in by John Allan, an Irvine émigré who later returned with the boy for a formative visit. In Irvine, a long-held story claims that young Edgar learned his letters by tracing names and symbols on gravestones. Morbid? Perhaps. But the lessons seem to have stuck.

Join us for an evening in two parts: a chilly tour of Irvine’s Auld Parish Church Cemetery, then the group will head to The Porthead Tavern (upstairs bar) to warm up with a pint & intimate Poe performance by actor Steven Duffy.

On Thursday, February 26th at 6:30PM, local guide, Billy Kerr and Enrica Jang, Executive Director of the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, visiting from Baltimore, Maryland (USA), lead a relaxed twilight walk through Irvine’s historic cemetery. The stones here range from solemn to sly, many marked with moral warnings, stark imagery, and just enough menace to delight a sharp-eyed child with an active imagination. The cemetery is also filled with figures connected, sometimes directly and sometimes by coincidence, to the Allan family and their circle. Bill and Enrica will discuss Edgar Allan Poe’s history with the Allans and where we see some of the cemetery influence in Poe’s works.

After the walk, we’ll head to the upstairs bar at The Porthead Tavern for a dram and nibbles, topped off with live dramatic reading of Poe stories and letters by actor Steven Duffy. Enrica will share the strange history of Poe’s mysterious death in Baltimore and stay to answer your questions about the master of the macabre.

Hosted in Scotland by Poetic Justice and Poe Baltimore, this evening is part of a wider traveling series of Poe events with The Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum as they share plans for the museum’s historic expansion. Guests will hear more at the close of the night about what is stirring next at Poe’s Baltimore home.

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