Site Type: Private Home

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Historical Significance:

Poet Anne Spencer lived and worked in the Pierce Street home from 1903 until death in 1975. Internationally recognized as a poet of the Harlem Renaissance period, Anne was the first Virginian and first African-American to have her poetry included in the Norton Anthology of American Poetry. Also an activist for equality and educational opportunities for all, she hosted such dignitaries as Hughees, Marian Anderson, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Weldon Johnson, and W.E.B. Dubois. The local chapter of the NAACP was founded from her home. The restored garden, where Anne was an avid gardener, and Edankraal, a one-room retreat where Anne did much of her writing, are also part of the property.

Physical Description:

The Anne Spencer home is a two-story clapboard home built in 1903. It includes a living room, dining room, sunroom, front hall with a phone booth, and kitchen on the ground level, four bedrooms and sunroom on the second floor, and a third floor used by grandchildren which isn't open to the public. The home occupies a double lot which contains the restored garden and the garden retreat Edrankaal. All furnishings, books and the numerous photographs and memorabilia are authentic.