Poe Baltimore – Preserving Edgar Allan Poe’s Legacy in the Charm City

Poe Baltimore: Preserving Edgar Allan Poe's Charm city legacy

On our most recent show taping for the Baltimore episode, we got a chance to shoot a segment at the home of everyone’s favorite creepy poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Locally, it is known as the Poe House. The good people at Poe Baltimore, a charity, hope to keep people interested in Poe’s legacy and have them enjoy Baltimore’s many other attractions.

“I became insane, with horrible intervals of horrible sanity.” -Poe

Admittedly, Poe’s home is not in a great part of town, and it took great effort to keep his home from being demolished. The three story home is small. I mean, very small (600 square feet or so, for all three stories). Poe Baltimore has added Poe quotes to the walls, displayed his telescope, and even recreated his bedroom on the third floor. There’s a Poe bust and an always prevalent Raven to look at when you enter, as well. Poe lived here when he was 23. There are also Poe tributes in the other cities he lived in like Richmond, New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston.

The future, more grandiose plan for Poe Baltimore is for a tour of of the city and all things “Poe.” Other must see sites for the Poe enthusiast are his grave, and the Sir Moses Ezekiel statue. Poe died just as he wrote…in complete mystery. He was picked up off the streets of Baltimore in 1849 in complete distress, incoherent and wearing someone else’s clothes. He died at the hospital before anyone could get any information from him, muttering the word, “Reynolds.” Some say he was poisoned, but all records of his death were destroyed – fueling the conspiracy.

The Poe Toaster

From 1949-2009, starting 100 years after Poe’s death, a mysterious black-clad visitor, known as the Poe Toaster, left a half consumed bottle of cognac and three roses on his grave, every year, for almost 70 years on January 9th. He mysteriously stopped in 2009.

If you’re going to do your own walking Poe tour of Baltimore, I say finish it off at the Annabel Lee Tavern – with their Poe themed menu, and salute one of the greatest American writers of all time.

For more on Poe Baltimore visit their website.

Photos courtesy of Dollar Photo Club and Wikimedia Commons.