One of my favorite vacation spots is Isle of Palms, South Carolina USA which is one island up from Sullivan’s Island. Sullivan’s Island is home to amazing history, forts, and views. From the Sullivan’s Island lighthouse (a 162-foot triangular lighthouse that used to be one of the brightest in the world), Fort Moultrie (A historic military site, in use from 1776–1947 that has harbor & Fort Sumter views), and my favorite restaurant in the world…Obstinate Daughter (which I wrote a post about here).
While on my vacation in early April 2021, I discovered another unique gem of Sullivan’s Island…the Edgar Allan Poe library. The first thing I noticed about the library, is that it didn’t seem like a library. It was partially underground, it seemed like the perfect play area for a young kid who dreamed of forts and gunfights, and it is tucked into the entryway for an amazing and modern elementary school. As I rode by, I noticed the architecture, the signage, and the name. I had seen a local bar called Poe’s Tavern as well, which made me do some research on why this author had ties to Sullivan’s Island. So let’s start there.
The library is named for author Edgar Allan Poe, who was stationed on Sullivan’s Island as a private in the U.S. Army from 1827-1828, and who used the island setting as the background for his famous story, “The Gold Bug.” He only spent two years on the island, but the area impacted 3 of his works. I love Sullivan’s Island and think it is beautiful. His description in the ‘Gold Bug’ says something more about the author than the island.
“This island is a very singular one. It consists of little else than the sea sand and is about three miles long. Its breadth at no point exceeds a quarter of a mile. It is separated from the mainland by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort of the marsh hen. The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant or at least dwarfish. No trees of any magnitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, where Fort Moultrie stands and where are some miserable frame buildings, tenanted, during summer, by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found the bristly palmetto; but the whole island, with the exception of this western point and a line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is covered with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle."
So needless to say, he left an impact. The area named streets after him, an island, a tavern, and now…a library. The Edgar Allan Poe Library stands in a renovated Battery Gadsden, a former Spanish-American War four-gun battery. Following World War II, the federal government turned some local batteries over to the town of Sullivan’s Island, and the Edgar Allan Poe Library was created and dedicated in March 1977. The library is like most libraries inside, with Free WIFI, printing, computers, ample kid’s and adult book titles, but outside you are transported (like in a book) into the past and immersed in history.
The library is open Monday & Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday. It is 2,000 square feet, houses, 15,000 books, and has walls that are two feet thick. Your standard library, huh?