Edgar Allan Poe's Grave

Description:

• Three modest memorials in this old graveyard recall the poet who wrote "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Raven" (the only poem to inspire an NFL team's name). After his mysterious death in 1849 at age 40, Poe's relatives erected a small gravestone. Before the stone could be installed, however, a train crashed through the monument yard and destroyed it. In the century since, the site has been adorned with three newer monuments: the main memorial, which features a bas-relief bust of Poe; a small gravestone adorned with a raven at Poe's original burial lot; and a plaque placed by the French, who, thanks to the poet Baudelaire, enjoy some of the best translations of Poe's works. The poet is remembered on his birthday every January 19, when a mysterious "Poe Toaster" leaves half a bottle of cognac and three roses at the grave. On the weekend closest to Poe's birthday, a party is held in his honor. A Halloween tour is also scheduled each year.

• © Frommer's 2012