A local Richmond merchant, John Allan, and his wife Frances had no children of their own. They fostered and raised Edgar Allan Poe—and even gave him their surname as a middle name—but never formally adopted him. John paid for Poe’s education, but the young man’s college days were short-lived. Poe racked up such a large sum of gambling and other debts during his one and only semester at the University of Virginia (UVA) that John refused to send him back to Charlottesville for a second term. That prompted Poe to enlist in the army, where he started writing poems. He published two volumes in the late 1820s and eventually attained notoriety with stories like “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” To learn more about Virginia poets during National Poetry Month, visit our link in bio. 📸: Library of Congress #virginia #vanews