In 1849, about two years after the passing of the gentle soul of
Virginia, Poe returned to Richmond. He went first to the United States
Hotel, at the southwest corner of Nineteenth and Main Streets, in the
"Bird in Hand" neighborhood where he had looked for the last time on
the face of his young mother. He soon removed to the "Swan," because
it was near Duncan Lodge, the home of his friends, the MacKenzies,
where his sister Rose had found protection. The Swan was a long,
two-storied structure with combed roof, tall chimneys at the ends, and
a front piazza with a long flight of steps leading down to the street.
It was famous away back in the beginning of the century, having been
built about 1795. When it sheltered Poe it wore a look of having stood
there from the beginning of time and been forgotten by the passing
generations.

Duncan Lodge, now an industrial home, was then a stately mansion,
shaded by magnificent trees. Here Poe spent much of his time, and one
evening in this friendly home he recited "The Raven" with such
artistic effect that his auditors induced him to give it as a public
reading at the Exchange Hotel. Unfortunately, it was in midsummer, and
both literary Richmond and gay Richmond were at seashore and mountain,
and there were few to listen to the poem read as only its author could
read it. Later in the same hall he gave, with gratifying success, his
lecture on "The Poetic Principle."

In early September, with some friends, he spent a Sunday in the Hygeia
Hotel at Old Point. At the request of one of the party he recited "The
Raven," "Annabel Lee," and "Ulalume," saying that the last stanza of
"Ulalume" might not be intelligible to them, as it was not to him and
for that reason had not been published. Even if he had known what it