Poe's Baltimore
A Place of Beginnings and Endings
Edgar Allan Poe, the American literary genius best known for his short stories and poems, often claimed Baltimore as his birthplace. In Baltimore, Poe found love and affection, launched his literary career - and was later laid to rest. Born in Boston and reared in Richmond, the troubled writer remained emotinoally tied to Baltimore where the Poe family name was held in high regard.
Poe, the father of detective fiction, died suddenly under mysterious circumstances on October 7, 1849. He was buried the next day in his grandparents' lot here at Westminster, thus securign him an eternal connection to Baltimore.
[map]
J. H. Colton's City of Baltimore Maryland, 1855
Courtesy of the Maryland State Archives
Poe's Baltimore
1. Westminster Burying Ground
2. Poe House and Museum, 203 Amity Street (open to the public)
Where Poe Lived with Maria and Virginia Clemm, and his grandmother, ca. 1833-1835. He gained his first recognition in those years.
3. Latrobe House, 11. E. Mulberry Street
The only surviving site associated with the 1833 literary contest judging that launched Poe's career. Poe wom $50 for best short story, "MS Found in a Bottle."
4. Mechanic's Row, 1000 block of Eastern Avenue (demolished)
Poe lived here in his aunt's household (1831-1833) alongm with his brother, Henry, and cousin, Virginia. Henry died in 1831 and was buried in the family lot in Westminster.
5. Washington College Hospital, later Church Home and Hospital
Poe died here on October 7, 1849, several days after being found unconsciousness on E. Lombard Street.
[photograph]
203 Amity Street Poe's last Baltimore residence as it appeared in 1939, two years before Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe Society saved it from demolition.
Courtesy of Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Library / State Library Resource Center, Baltimore, Maryland
[illustration]
"His face is a fine one, and well gifted with intellectual beauty."
Thomas Dunn English in The Aristidean, April 1845
From Life This charming watercolor is one of 13 authenticated portraits done during Poe's lifetime.
Edgar A. Poe by John A. McDougall, Watercolor on paper, ca. 1846
Huntington Library, San Marino, California
[painting]
Poe's Beloved Poe married his beloved Virginia, the daughter of Maria Clemm and his first cousin, in 1836 when she was 13. Virginia's death from tuberculosis at age 24 plunged Poe into deep depression. Her remains were moved from New York to Westminster on January 19, 1885, the 76th anniversary of Poe's birthday.
Virginia Clemm Poe by unknown artist, oil on canvas, ca. 1837
From a Descendent in the Herring-Poe Family
[letter]
An Emotional Plea Poe returned to Richmond after the breakup of the Amity Street household, where he wrote an emotional letter to Maria pleading with her to join him - and asking for Virginia's hand in marriage.
Edgar A. Poe to Maria Clemm, August 29, 1835
Courtesy of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Library / State Library Resource Center, Baltimore, Maryland
"Ye who read are still among the living, but I who write shall have long since gone my way into the region of shadows. For indeed strange things shall happen and many secret things be knwon, and many centuries shall pass away, ere these memorials be seen of men. And, when seen, there will be some to disbelieve, and some to doubt, and yet a few who will find much to ponder upon in the characters here graven with a stylus of iron."
From Edgar Allan Poe's "Shadow."
(Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, 1840)
[book page
Nevermore Poe is best known for "The Raven," a poem that has appeared in hundreds of editoins in countless languages - and let its name to Baltimore's professoinal football team.
Courtesy of Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Library / State Library Resource Center, Baltimore, Maryland
Marker can be reached from the intersection of West Fayette Street and North Greene Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
