Nevermore

Recently, while cleaning out some old photo files, I came across an image that for some reason I had never processed or used. It came from a 2018 shoot at Westminster Cemetery in Baltimore, Md. Westminster dates back quite some time, and is most famous at the resting place of one Edgar Allan Poe.

Yes, this is the place where the famous Poe Toaster would show up on Poe’s birthday, drink a toast of cognac and leave the rest of the bottle on the grave. There was much kerfuffle about this for the 60 years it occurred, especially when a note was left implying that the original Toaster had passed on but the mantle would be taken up.

Unfortunately, those who took his place apparently didn’t treat it seriously, and it was discontinued. Then a couple of years ago, local historians decided to revive the tradition with historical reenactor volunteers taking up the responsibility.

As of 2023, the tradition is back, as an unnamed reenactor was seen reciting the Latin toast and leaving the cognac on the grave. There was no news coverage I could find from 2024, but here’s hoping.

Regardless, not many know that the grave everyone knows — a sizable monolith at the entrance engraved with Poe’s face and also holding the remains of his wife and other relatives — was not his original grave. Poe died a pauper, remember, and was originally in an unmarked grave. Decades later, surviving family members and dedicated fans of the melancholy poet raised the money for the monolith, which was dedicated in 1875. It’s the easy photo, and one I snagged when I first arrived at the cemetery since someone had left the perfect prop for me.

But the original site of his unmarked grave was preserved, with a marker of its own that read “original burial place of Edgar Allan Poe.” It incorporated the image of the Raven from Poe’s most famous poem, and the words “nevermore.”

I snagged that shot, as well as images of flowers and a tiny vial of (presumably) cognac someone had left on it. (I didn’t taste it to make sure. My dedication to photography goes only so far.)

Somehow that photo was neglected in my collection of cemetery photography, as I only discovered it when fixing my site. Last year I even gave a guest lecture on Poe and “The Raven” to the Wednesday Club here in St. Louis, and missed…