Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore

To my knowledge, Baltimore has the only other full-bodied sculpture of Edgar Allan Poe – the other being in Boston. In a September 2022 trip to Baltimore, I was able to see this sculpture and some other Poe sites. The sculpture is located at Gordon Plaza at University of Baltimore (1415 Maryland Ave.).

The statue was commissioned in 1911 by the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association of Baltimore and was the last work of renowned American sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel. Born in Richmond, Virgina, Ezekiel was a decorated Confederate soldier who moved to Europe in 1869. T^he statue was commissioned in 1907 (aiming to erect in in 1909 – the centennial of Poe’s birth), but it was not until the summer of 1921 that it was erected in Wyman Park in Baltimore. The many delays were befitting the troubled life of Poe himself.

• Ezekial’s first model for the statue was destroyed en route to the foundry by a fire in a custom house. He had to start over.
• The second model was completed in 1915, but destroyed in Ezekiel’s studio by an earthquake. He had to start over again.
• The third model, completed in 1916, was due to be shipped across the Atlantic, but was delayed another five years due to World War I. By the time the statue arrived in Baltimore, Ezekiel had already been dead for four years. 

The statue was erected in Wyman Park on this higher pedestal (the height works better I think that the current pedestal). In any case the inscription has two typos which caused great controversy.

Over the years the Poe statue suffered from neglect, vandalism, and weather damage. In 1983, the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore recommended the statue be moved to the Gordon Plaza at the University of Baltimore where it still stands today. (Above text taken from and shortened from https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/185 )

Boston has its sculpture, erected in 2014, and a Poe walking tour, that includes sites where the house he was born in used to be and so on, but there is nothing really to see now. Baltimore is where he went when he “fled” from Boston, and the house he lived in (for only about 3 years) is still there! Originally it was in the country, but now the house is surrounded by the growth of downtown Baltimore. Somehow it still stands, with additions and extensions.

I didn’t go into the House and Museum. Ruth and I felt that the old narrow, winding staircase would be a bit too much for us. As the website advises: “It is not for everyone.” On the other hand there is an excellent short guided VIDEO TOUR on their website which I recommend watching. In addition, they will do a remote virtual tour for small groups, including Q&A just like on an actual physical tour. Good for classes and mystery book clubs!

The original Poe house goes from the corner (at the right of the lamppost above) to a point about where the dark plaque is on the wall to the left of the door. Everything beyond to the left was attached later in typical Baltimore row-house practicality. Except for the Poe Museum/House, they are private residences now. You can see the whole house in the picture below. There are three above-ground floors. Again the original went back only as far as the end of the rear sloping roof. The rest is a later extension from the rear. Use the video link I provided, and the VIDEO TOUR will show you what is inside along with a little Poe history.

He didn’t die there, nor did any of the family remain there for long. Where and how he died is one of the great mysteries with many theories. It isn’t even clear how he got to Baltimore, for he had left Richmond to travel to NYC on September 27, 1949. No one knows for certain how he ended up in clothes that were not his own, in a delirious state in Ryan’s Tavern in Baltimore. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died at 5 a.m. on Sunday, October 7. He was 40 years old. Poe was never able to explain how he came to be in this condition.

One thing is for sure. Poe was buried after a small funeral at the back of Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, but his remains were moved to a new grave with a larger monument in 1875, along with with his wife, Virginia Clemm Poe and mother-in-law Maria Poe Clemm. This is where we pause to remember the genius poet, and father of the American detective story.