Edgar Allan Poe House

Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum should reopen Oct. 4, the group responsible for making it profitable announced this week. "That's the official goal. That's the date," said Baltimore-based actor and author Mark Redfield, vice president of Poe Baltimore. "Things are coming along. " Tentative plans call for the house to be open weekends until spring 2014, when hours would be expanded. Final details are still being developed, Redfield said, but plans call for a museum that will be similar to what had been available to visitors before the closing of the house in September 2012.

Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum should reopen Oct. 4, the group responsible for making it profitable announced this week. "That's the official goal. That's the date," said Baltimore-based actor and author Mark Redfield, vice president of Poe Baltimore. "Things are coming along. " Tentative plans call for the house to be open weekends until spring 2014, when hours would be expanded. Final details are still being developed, Redfield said, but plans call for a museum that will be similar to what had been available to visitors before the closing of the house in September 2012.

It would seem that the Baltimore Ravens would be the ideal source of the ongoing financial support needed by the Edgar Allan Poe House ("Plight of city's Poe House draws national attention," Oct. 7). The tie in is obvious, of benefit to both the museum and the team, and an insignificant expense compared to team operating costs. George White, Timonium

The historic Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, which lost its longtime curator and was shuttered in September amid an operational reorganization, has in the last month been defaced by graffiti and robbed of its wooden front steps, according to those involved in the museum's revitalization. City officials said they are aware of the damage and recently repainted the museum door, which had been scrawled with mostly illegible writings in marker. They also said they regularly check on the museum and respond to any complaints about its condition.

The historic Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, which lost its longtime curator and was shuttered in September amid an operational reorganization, has in the last month been defaced by graffiti and robbed of its wooden front steps, according to those involved in the museum's revitalization. City officials said they are aware of the damage and recently repainted the museum door, which had been scrawled with mostly illegible writings in marker. They also said they regularly check on the museum and respond to any complaints about its condition.

Is one of Baltimore's quirkiest traditions -- the Poe toaster -- dead? In the dark of night, on Jan. 19, the author's birthday, a mysterious, anonymous toaster had for years left cognac and roses at his grave outside Westminster Hall. Now that the stranger has failed to show up -- for the third straight year -- some are declaring an end to the tradition. Here are a few graphs from a story by The Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach writes: Early Thursday morning, a tired Jeff Jerome, curator of the city's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, "officially" pronounced the Poe-toasting tradition over.

Even as Edgar Allan Poe's continuing presence in Baltimore remains uncertain, another East Coast city —the one in which the celebrated author was born — is preparing to honor him with a bronze statue. Poe partisans in Boston have chosen New York sculptor Stefanie Rocknak for the $125,000 project. Her design shows an adult Poe, who left Boston as a young child, as though he had just stepped off a train. To be placed in the city's Edgar Allan Poe Square, at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South, the statue will be situated so that Poe is heading back to his birthplace.

A longtime tribute to Edgar Allan Poe may have come to an end with the absence of the "Poe Toaster," who for more than half a century has marked the poet's birthday by laying roses and a bottle of cognac at his original grave site. This is the first time since Jan. 19, 1949 that the person, whose identity is unknown, failed to arrive, said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Edgar Allan Poe House. "I was very annoyed," he said. "I've been doing this since 1977, and there was no indication he wasn't going to show up," Jerome said.

baltimoresun.com/10spot -Many beloved literary figures, including Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Rachel Carson, have left their marks in Maryland. Here are the best places to relive a bit of bookish history. Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key's poem, "The Defence of Fort McHenry," was inspired by the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812, but it would take more than a century for it to be officially recognized as our national anthem, renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner." Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum (203 N. Amity St.)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering to help keep Baltimore's city-owned Edgar Allan Poe House open, provided the group is allowed to display an ad promoting a vegan diet. In a letter sent Monday to Poe House curator Jeff Jerome, PETA officials offered to "help a little bit" in the effort to keep the financially strapped Poe House open. In return for that help, PETA proposes, the house would display a sign featuring a man clutching at his chest; the accompanying message would read, "The Tell-Tale Heart of a Meat-Eater.

The financially troubled Edgar Allan Poe House got a lifeline from the city of Baltimore this week,  raising hope that the now-closed historic site can be saved. The city agreed to pay the B&O Railroad Museum $180,000 to develop a plan for the  home/museum to become a self-sufficient tourist attraction. The Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach wrote: "The overriding idea is to turn the Poe House into a draw that will not only see increased attendance, which has fluctuated between 3,000 and 5,000 annually, but also make Baltimore a destination for Poe enthusiasts.

The Edgar Allan Poe house closed it doors today, which could be an ominous sign or a new beginning for the small home where the great American author spent part of his youth. The Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach writes that the house and museum is supposed to reopen, perhaps as early as next spring, under the management of a new nonprofit called Poe Baltimore. Baltimore officials announced two years ago that they were no longer interested in operating the house, and cut its $85,000 annual operating budget from the city's spending plan, the story notes.

For a guy who's been dead some 160 years, Edgar Allan Poe's not getting much rest. A team of ghost hunters from the Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based TV program "Ghost Detectives" will be spending this weekend at the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum and at Fells Point's Admiral Fell Inn, looking for signs of paranormal activity — hopefully by the ghost of Poe himself. "The Poe House has always intrigued us," said Steven Barry, one of the show's investigators. Paranormal investigators are constantly asking for permission to spend a night at the Poe House, curator Jeff Jerome said.

Even as Edgar Allan Poe's continuing presence in Baltimore remains uncertain, another East Coast city —the one in which the celebrated author was born — is preparing to honor him with a bronze statue. Poe partisans in Boston have chosen New York sculptor Stefanie Rocknak for the $125,000 project. Her design shows an adult Poe, who left Boston as a young child, as though he had just stepped off a train. To be placed in the city's Edgar Allan Poe Square, at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South, the statue will be situated so that Poe is heading back to his birthplace.

Is one of Baltimore's quirkiest traditions -- the Poe toaster -- dead? In the dark of night, on Jan. 19, the author's birthday, a mysterious, anonymous toaster had for years left cognac and roses at his grave outside Westminster Hall. Now that the stranger has failed to show up -- for the third straight year -- some are declaring an end to the tradition. Here are a few graphs from a story by The Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach writes: Early Thursday morning, a tired Jeff Jerome, curator of the city's Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, "officially" pronounced the Poe-toasting tradition over.

It would seem that the Baltimore Ravens would be the ideal source of the ongoing financial support needed by the Edgar Allan Poe House ("Plight of city's Poe House draws national attention," Oct. 7). The tie in is obvious, of benefit to both the museum and the team, and an insignificant expense compared to team operating costs. George White, Timonium

For a guy who's been dead some 160 years, Edgar Allan Poe's not getting much rest. A team of ghost hunters from the Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based TV program "Ghost Detectives" will be spending this weekend at the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum and at Fells Point's Admiral Fell Inn, looking for signs of paranormal activity — hopefully by the ghost of Poe himself. "The Poe House has always intrigued us," said Steven Barry, one of the show's investigators. Paranormal investigators are constantly asking for permission to spend a night at the Poe House, curator Jeff Jerome said.

PETA and Poe? Oh, woe. The always outrageous People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals made the always financially strapped Edgar Allan Poe House an offer last week that, apparently, the latter can refuse. PETA officials pledged an unspecified amount of money to help keep the Poe House open now that it's lost funding from Baltimore City and is subsisting on the kindness of strangers. The catch, though, is that the house would have to display a PETA poster, one that plays off a famous Poe short story: "The Tell-Tale Heart of a Meat-Eater," goes the ad, which features a drawing of a rather distressed Poe-like man clutching his chest.

Native Londoner Kimberly Marie Freeman lives and works 200 miles north of Baltimore, but she's enthusiastically joining the effort to save one of the city's cultural treasures. Shutting the Edgar Allan Poe House, she says with a hint of exasperation, would be a shabby way to treat such an internationally renowned figure. "There would be outrage in England if anyone ever considered shutting down Shakespeare's home," said Freeman, artistic director for New York-based Bedlam Ensemble, a performance group putting on several shows in Manhattan this month and next to raise money for the beleaguered museum.

The city Board of Estimates selected a Maryland firm Wednesday morning to come up with a plan to make Baltimore's historic Edgar Allan Poe House self-sufficient by next July. The winning bid was submitted by Cultural Resources Management Group (CRMG), which has addresses in both Mount Ranier, Maryland and Leesburg, Virginia. CRMG was selected from among four firms specializing in managing historic properties, and was awarded $45,000 to draft an operating and finance plan for the 19 t h century home at 203 Amity Street.