1897 Poe House Fayetteville: Free Tours, Times & History

The 1897 Poe House is a two-story Victorian home on the grounds of the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex in Fayetteville's Haymount area. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources runs it as a house museum, and the guided tour is one of the best free things to do in the city.

The first question most visitors ask: is this Edgar Allan Poe's house? No. It belonged to Edgar Allen Poe, a Fayetteville brickmaker, and his family. The museum's own page puts it plainly: he was "not the famous writer of the macabre."

Tour times and admission

Detail	What to know
Check-in	Museum of the Cape Fear lobby, 801 Arsenal Ave., Fayetteville, NC 28305
Tuesday to Friday tours	11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Saturday tours	On the hour, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Length	About 45 minutes
Cost	Free; donations appreciated
Phone	910-500-4240

The house can only be seen on a guided tour. Individuals and families do not need a reservation for scheduled tour times. The main museum building is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and is self-guided.

Closed days. The complex closes on New Year's Day, Easter, July 4, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Seasonal changes. In late October the museum stages its Hallowe'en Revels program, and the 11 a.m. house tours are suspended October 26 to 30 while staff set up. The museum posts notices like this on its tour page, so check it before a trip in October or December.

Groups. Groups of 15 or more must reserve a Poe House tour at least two weeks ahead, with a maximum of 30 people. A group that arrives more than 30 minutes late loses its guided tour but can still explore the museum and grounds.

Who was E.A. Poe?

E.A. Poe was a local businessman who owned and ran two brickyards that made bricks and pottery. The museum calls the business the Poe Brick Company. The house's foundation was laid with bricks from his own yard.

He and his wife raised eight children in the house: six daughters and twin sons. The museum's history notes name three household workers: Nancy, the cook; Ada, the housekeeper; and Jennie, a live-in nanny. Their presence is part of the tour, which covers women's roles, children's lives and African American history in southern North Carolina in the early 1900s.

The fourth daughter, Lillie, was the last family member to live in the house. She sold it to the State of North Carolina. Restoration began in March 1997 and finished in May 1998.

The house itself

Local carpenter Ruffin Vaughn built the house in 1897. The museum describes it as a Victorian-style kit home with Eastlake detailing, and the National Register of Historic Places lists its style as Stick/Eastlake. It was added to the Register in 1983.

Things to look for on the tour:

• Scale. The house covers about 5,500 square feet on two floors.
• Room layout. The first floor holds the parlor, sitting room, nursery, a servants' room, a butler's and dry goods pantry and the main bedroom. The second floor has four children's bedrooms.
• The detached kitchen. It stands behind the house, a common design at the time to keep heat and fire risk away from the living space.
• Porch and trim. The spindle and scroll work is typical of Eastlake-influenced houses of the 1890s.

What the house says about Fayetteville around 1900

The Poe House was built at a turning point for the city. NCpedia notes that in the 1890s new railroad lines tied Fayetteville to distant markets, and the 1890 Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad depot downtown dates from the same decade. A brickmaker like Poe sat at the center of that growth, supplying the material for new stores, houses and churches. The tour uses the household to show what that prosperity looked like for one family, and who did the daily work that kept a house this size running.

How to plan your visit

Combine it with the museum. The Museum of the Cape Fear building covers more than 400 years of regional history. Plan about an hour there and 45 minutes for the house. Both are free.

See Arsenal Park. The complex sits on the site of the federal arsenal that became a Confederate gun factory and was destroyed by Union troops under Sherman in 1865. The remains are part of the grounds, so walk them before or after your tour. Our Fayetteville history guide covers the arsenal story in more depth.

Arrive 10 minutes early. Tours leave from the museum lobby, and a full tour fills the house. Saturday tours are the busiest.

Parking. The museum marks bus parking on Bradford Avenue in front of the building. Call 910-500-4240 if you need car or accessible parking details.

With children. The nursery and the children's bedrooms tend to hold young visitors' attention, and the house works for school-age kids who can stay with a group for 45 minutes.

What else is nearby

The Poe House is on the edge of the Haymount Historic District, a hilltop neighborhood of older homes west of downtown. From here it is a short drive down Hay Street to the Market House, the city's other heritage sites, including the history museum in the 1890 railroad depot, and the restaurants of downtown Fayetteville. For a full list of museums, including the military ones, see museums in Fayetteville.

Sources

• Museum of the Cape Fear: 1897 Poe House
• Museum of the Cape Fear: Plan a Visit
• Museum of the Cape Fear: History To-Go, 1897 Poe House
• NCpedia: Fayetteville
• Up & Coming Weekly: E.A. Poe, Fayetteville's merchant of clay

Details checked October 2026.