My daughter Aynsley and I recently went to visit my mother for a few days. She lives in Ellicott City Maryland. My daughter had only a few requests, and one was to see the Edgar Allen Poe house and grave in Baltimore.
I don’t always hang out on street corners, but when I do, I make sure they are of historic importance.
How hard could it be? Well with major construction going on around us, with closed off streets and forgetting the GPS, pretty darn hard.
When found, the Poe house is under renovation, but it doesn’t matter as it LOOKS like you want the Poe house to look. The nice postal worker delivering mail stopped to say how sorry she was the home was closed. She also gave us directions to the grave of Poe, around the traffic and construction.
The lovely Poe grave is easy to find. My husband parked right in front of the church, and as my daughter posed with the grave, locals walked by smiling and even remarking to each other “yeah, that’s where he’s buried, right here!” This grave is newer, Poe’s original grave was in the back of the church. As his reputation grew, he was moved to a more easy to reach location with a fancier headstone. My daughter had friends that asked her to bring some “dirt” from the Poe grave. She had to point out that it is all paved over.
If you are laughing that someone would want dirt from a grave, it should be noted you can buy dirt from a Salem graveyard on Ebay! My daughter was not tempted to fool her friends by digging up a bit of dirt from her grandmother’s garden!
I also visited my friend Ellie at the wonderful Enoch Pratt Free Library where she works.
http://yankeeskeptic.com/2013/04/07/enoch-pratt-free-library-an-anchor-for-baltimore/
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Categories: Travel, Uncategorized
Two Different Girls 
Kitty, I totally envy you. Stirling and I went there a few years ago specifically out of our way to find the grave. But that was such a scary place. We were driving a bright red Mustang Convertible and stood out like a sore thumb. There was no where to park along the curb, and people were scary looking just standing along the streets. They were watching us cruise around and personally I wasn’t comfortable getting out of the car at all.
We saw the museum as we drove by and also the church yard, but kept going. Very scary part of our trip.
The original post was from 2013 but I felt the need to reply. I wonder if sgerbic was at the right place? There is ample parking at the Poe Grave
along Fayette Street and on Greene Street. That intersection is probably one of the busiest in Baltimore! You have students from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, School of Social Work, School of Dentistry, doctors, surgeons, nurses, professional people walking in that area all the time. Are these the “scary people” that she was referring to?? The Poe Grave is a popular place and I’m sorry she felt frightened by people standing on the street watching them cruise around. Maybe, just maybe it was the car that she was driving in that people were staring at?? Sometimes I think people’s imagination gets the best of them. Jeff Jerome, Curator Emeritus, former Curator of the Poe House and Museum.
We visited the grave of HP Lovecraft in Providence last year. It didn’t occur to me that I might take a little dirt (under so much grass), but it looked like the custom was to leave things rather than take things.