Yes, “nevermore” is a little obvious, but today is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, and the Poe Toaster did not show at Westminster Hall. So the “official” word is that the Poe Toaster tradition has ended.

Nerd Trips may now be helping me with the crossword puzzle! Yesterday’s (1/17) New York Times crossword featured the following clue: “President who was once New York’s governor.” Unfortunately, we have not had a major Nerd Trip to see places associated with this man, so I didn’t get it right away. But, I knew the puzzle had a Sesame Street theme, so with the letters I had, I was able to fill in “Grover Cleveland.”
This prompted me to look up Grover Cleveland in the presidents’ guide. There are definitely some locations we need to visit!

As I wrote in my previous post, the folks at the Poe House seem to know that they are going to get some odd questions. In fact, they hand out a sheet listing some of the unusual questions visitors have asked. They include: Why is the paint peeling, why does the Poe House have that “old” smell and is the house haunted? (Poe’s grandmother died in the house, he did not). I think some (many?) visitors to the Poe House are hoping to discover something a little creepy; I suppose we all have a somewhat morbid curiosity when it comes to Poe. Another sample on the curator’s question list asks about the basement. The sheet reassures you that the basement is mostly used for storage and that “there is nothing mysterious or weird in the basement.”

Even though I’ve lived in Baltimore for years, I never seemed to find time to visit to the Poe house. Labor Day weekend 2010, my friend Nancy was visiting from Ohio. She had never been on a nerd trip, and I thought the Poe house would be an easy introduction