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| Gary at Poe's newest grave marker |
Our friend Gary visited us during the last weekend in Sept. and we toured him around Baltimore. In today's blog, we'll take you (and Gary) to Edgar Allen Poe's grave site and tell you the odd history behind it. Edgar's body was moved to a new spot and a marker was also put in a spot near the original plot. Here's the story and the oddities, the two grave markers, unburying Poe and the mysterious Poe Toaster.
WHO WAS EDGAR ALLAN POE - If you don't read, and you don't know classic writings, you likely don't know him. Edgar Allan Poe lived from 1809 to 1849. He was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He had just accepted a position as an editor of a newspaper and was found inebriated on the streets of Baltimore. He was taken to a hospital where he later died. No one knows what happened.
WHAT ARE HIS MOST FAMOUS STORIES ? Poe is famous for his tales and poems of horror and mystery, including "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Raven."
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| About the monument |
WHERE IS HE BURIED? Westminster Burial Ground, 515 W Fayette St, Baltimore, MD 21201
THE ODDITY OF HIS GRAVE - Edgar Allan Poe and his wife were originally buried in the back of the cemetery. Because sight-seers barraged the cemetery to see his gravesite and pay respects, the grave had to be moved to just inside the entranceway gate. We were told that people frequently broke into the gates and the cemetery to visit the grave.
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| New marker near Orig.gravesite "80" |
THE ORIGINAL GRAVE MARKED "80" - Atlasobscura.com provided an interesting note about Poe's grave. When Edgar Allan Poe died in 1849, he was originally buried in an unmarked grave. When the grave was in danger of disappearing into the weeds altogether, George W. Spence undertook naming the spot with a simple sandstone marker - not with the famous writer’s name but with the simple and inexplicable number 80
FUNDRAISER FOR THE CURRENT MONUMENT - Donations had been collected for years before half the cost was donated by a Philadelphia man named George Childs in 1874. Shortly thereafter, a prestigious large marble monument was designed by George Frederick, the same architect who designed Baltimore’s City Hall.
ENGRAVING ERROR!! - The engraving on the new, large marble monument erroneously states that Poe’s birthday was January 20th, rather than the 19th - and in the placement, as the monument was too large for the original burial site. It was decided that the front corner of the large cemetery was more suitable than the original spot for such an imposing marker.
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| Eerie looking half face on a Mausoleum |
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| Gary at a gravity defying Marble Marker |
DIGGING UP THE BODY- It seems appropriate that Edgar Allan's corpse was unburied since he wrote about American Horror stories. After exhuming and moving the body, Edgar Allan Poe’s final resting place was celebrated a year later in November of 1875 and was attended by the high society of Baltimore as well as American author Walt Whitman.
THE ORIGINAL SPOT GETS A STONE - In 1913 another stone was laid In Memorium to commemorate the original location of his internment, however it was placed incorrectly. It was quickly moved closer to the area of his unmarked grave, but it is reportedly still not in the correct position.
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| About the odd Marble Marker |
THE MYSTERIOUS POE TOASTER -Poe Toaster is a media epithet popularly used to refer to an
unidentified person who, for over seven decades, paid an annual tribute
to American author Edgar Allan Poe by visiting the cenotaph marking his
original grave in Baltimore, Maryland, in the early hours of January 19,
Poe's birthday. The hooded figure always leaves 2 roses and a half consumed bottle of cognac.
GRAVITY DEFYING MARBLE MARKER- One gravesite has a marble slab over it, and it continues to stay together and defy gravity. Found in the back of the cemetery, this gravesite belongs to William Matthews, a merchant and Revolutionary War Veteran. Maybe his ghost is keeping it together!
NEXT: EDGAR ALLAN POE'S HOUSE
