Baltimore Poe Museum to Open Nevermore? Time may be running short for Edgar Allan Poe
devotees wanting to worship at the Baltimore shrine of the author of “The Raven” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” While Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum has been a place of pilgrimage for fans such as Stephen King and Vincent Price, the museum’s fate seems grave indeed. The city’s debt-wracked Department of Plan-
ning has run the museum since 1977. But Balti- more has been plagued by crime and poverty for years, so keeping open an admittedly cultish tourist attraction in a dodgy part of town has made it a target in the municipal budget. Jeffrey A. Savoye, secretary treasurer and webmaster of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, says that rumours about the closure had been swirling for months prior to official word coming down this past January. He thinks the city’s decision is awful, although he understands it. “They’re in panic mode,” he says. “There aren’t
any really good solutions available to them. I feel sorry for them having to make decisions like this, but it is absolutely short-sighted because if this is all they do, it’s a permanent downward trajec- tory. Eventually the city will be nothing but a sta- dium and slums.” Although born in Boston, Poe had a longstanding
relationship with Baltimore. Besides living there off and on, he courted and married his wife Virginia in the city, published his first proper book (Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems) there, and died at Washington College Hospital on October 7, 1849. The city influenced his work greatly, with his short story “Berenice” inspired by news reports of Balti- more graves being desecrated by local dentists in search of perfect teeth to study. The museum is housed in a small two-and-a-
half storey brick duplex located at 203 Amity Street, in West Baltimore. It was built around 1830
and remains the oldest standing structure in which Poe resided. He moved in at the age of 23 and is thought to have written several poems and stories there, including “Berenice,” “Morella” and “The Visionary.” He also married Virginia there in a secret ceremony on September 22, 1835. The house, Savoye admits, is
in a “very economically de- pressed area” of a city whose criminal life has been the sub- ject of TV shows The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street. “A lot of people are afraid to
visit the Poe House. It’s not neces- sarily reasonable or a good thing, but a lot of people are afraid to go there. I hear it all the time. “ While the house itself is the
main attraction, it also contains a number of items presumed to have been used by the author, in- cluding a telescope, a travelling desk and a sextant. Displayed on the second floor is a set of Gustave Doré’s 1884 illustrations for Poe’s “The Raven.” Other exhibits include a reprint of his literary ex- ecutor Rufus Griswold’s infamous smear of an obituary (“Death of Edgar A. Poe”), and several bottles of cognac left at Poe’s grave over the years by the so-called “Poe Toaster.” It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972. But unless an alternate source of funding is
E.A. Poe House: The city of Baltimore plans to close the museum.
2012. Savoye realizes that the writer’s legacy will continue with or without the museum but thinks its closure will be a significant loss to Baltimore. “It is one of the few positive things you hear about
found or the city can be convinced that the clo- sure would not be in its best interests, Balti- more’s Poe House will be shuttered by early
the city. How much publicity does the city get for vi- olence and poverty? Outside of however the Ravens [Baltimore’s football team – named after the famous Poe poem] might be doing [in] a particular season, there’s not a lot of good news.” For more information, visit
eapoe.org. SEAN PLUMMER
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