Sarah Helen Whitman’s House

Providence poet and essayist Sarah Helen Whitman was born in 1803 and spent much of her life living on the East Side. She is most famous for being intensely courted by Edgar Allan Poe in 1848; Sarah ended their engagement after two days. Whitman’s house, pictured above, was the historic Benjamin & John Reynolds House at 88 Benefit Street. It was here that she did much of her writing about transcendentalism, spiritualism, and feminism, and became an active part of Rhode Island’s intellectual scene. Whitman lived until 1878, and she is buried in the North Burial Ground. Learn more about Sarah Helen Whitman’s life, writing and relationship with Poe at the Poetry Foundation and find her fans at the Friends of Sarah Helen Whitman Facebook group.