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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe Museum Closing/

Creepy literary great Edgar Allan Poe's old home in Baltimore has long been a macabre tourist attraction, but the museum is about to go dark because of budget problems.

Poe, who died in 1849, lived in the home at 203 North Amity Street with his aunt, grandmother and two cousins, one of whom, Virginia, would later become his wife. The museum is located in a public housing complex miles away from the city's main tourism district. Still, about 5,000 people per year visit.

The city stopped funding the museum two years ago, and the private donations that kept it running are drying up. A feasibility study, to be completed by December, will explore ways to make the museum self-sustaining. More likely than not, the museum will close at the end of June 2012.

"It would be an embarrassment to the city to have thousands of people come to the city to see a boarded-up house," museum curator Jeff Jerome told Reuters.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sucks.

Anonymous said...

Too bad. Poe was an important part of Baltimore history. Our football team is named after his famous poem. I know that the City has to cut somewhere, but Poe is an icon of Baltimore.

Anonymous said...

Bed and Breakfast!

Anonymous said...

Maybe the football team needs to donate money to keep it open.

Anonymous said...

So she would later become his wife ? he married her after he died ?

Anonymous said...

1:14: Excellent suggestion!
5:51 Huh?

Fred Norris said...

He married his cousin? They should open a museum on the Easter Shore for him.