http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/ 203 N. Amity Street Content Overview In this interactive. students will take a virtual tour of the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum located at 29 Amity Street, Baltimore. This outline includes all text on the tour. The activity also includes images. A special thanks to the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum for authorizing this interactive tour. You might consider taking your class on a field trip to the “Poe House”. For more information: http://www.eapoe.org/balt/poehse.htm Intro Poe’s House at 203 N. Amity Street. Click on any of the highlighted rooms of the house (shown at left) to bring up a floorplan of the room. Then click on highlights in the room views shown below to see details. You may also see a larger version of any image by clicking on it at right. The Garret The About the According to most authorities, Poe lived in the garret, or attic, of the Garret Garret house on Amity Street. We don’t have any direct evidence of what kind of furniture Poe had in his room. However, scholars of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore have recreated what the room probably looked like from records of other homes at the time. Though all the Poe house furniture has been long lost, the items in the room date to the 1830’s and are typical examples of what a poor family could have afforded. Roll over parts of the floor plan below to explore Poe’s bedroom at 3 Amity Street. Be sure to examine the furniture, windows, walls, and stairs! The FRONT WASHBASIN Garret WALL Where’s the bathroom? Where’s the sink? The bathtub? You’re looking Washbasin at it! A washbasin like this is all Poe would have had clean himself each day. That includes all washing and shaving, but probably not brushing his teeth. Bathtubs were only for the rich, so Poe and his relatives used washbasins filled with water carried from the local stream. They wouldn’t take “baths” as we do today; instead, they would take “cat baths,” using a cloth or their hands to wash and rinse one part at a time. Tooth brushing wasn’t widely practiced in the United States until the 20th century, especially among the poor, so we can be fairly sure Poe wasn’t bushing his teeth every day. When finished with the water, Poe probably dumped it out the window like everyone else did in those days. What about a toilet? You won’t find one of those in the Poe house either. Most people at the time used chamber pots, because they did not have indoor plumbing. Chamber pots are large porcelain pots (about 12”-18” across) stored either under the washbasin or under the bed. If someone had to go to the bathroom, they would pull out the pot, take off the lid, and go right there. Once the chamber pot filled up or began to smell too badly, the waste was dumped out the nearest window! This made for very unclean living situation and slightly hazardous conditions if you were walking down the street. The FRONT DESK/CHAIR Garret WALL Poe spent a fair amount of time reading and writing during his time in Desk/Chair Baltimore. But unlike what you may imagine, Poe did not spend endless nights reading at his desk and laboring over his creations. He and his family were too poor to afford candles or whale oil for lamps, so he couldn’t have afforded the light to write at night. If he wanted to write or read at night, he would have had to go to an open public house or bar – hardly the best places for thoughtful writing. Just how poor was Poe? Consider this letter, probably written in this room to his friend John Kennedy on March 15, 1835. Kennedy had invited Poe to dinner. Judging from the letter, Poe’s appearance was so shabby that he couldn’t bring himself to accept: Dr. Sir,—Your kind invitation to dinner today has wounded me to the quick. I cannot come—and for reasons of the most humiliating nature in my personal appearance. You may conceive my deep mortification in making this disclosure to you—but it was necessary. If you will be my friend so far as to loan me $20, I will call on you tomorrow—otherwise it will be impossible, and I must submit to my fate. Sincerely yours, E. A. Poe Sunday 15th. Poe worked furiously during this time, writing nine stories, eight poems, and eight literary reviews. The money he received from this work helped his family greatly. The FRONT WINDOW Garret WALL What might Poe have seen looking out his third-story window? In 1833, Window Amity Street was on the extreme western edge of Baltimore. The “street” just below the window was little more than a dirt path. In fact, the city didn’t declare it a public road until 1852. The window faces west – away from the town. So unlike the endless apartment and row houses one would see today, Poe probably saw a few scattered houses and several rolling fields. At night, he could see the sun setting from his window across the undeveloped Baltimore lowlands that stretched for miles to the west. The stream where the family probably got their water was also about a mile away toward the west. The window probably didn’t have any drapes. Then again, Poe certainly didn’t have an alarm clock, so the sun in the morning would be a great wake-up call. The LEFT WALL STAIRS Garret Stairs Leading up from the master bedroom below, the stairs to the garret are extremely small and winding. Ten stairs, each a triangle only 11” at its widest point, twist you 180 degrees in the 8 feet between the floors. The only entrance to the room is made even smaller by the slanting ceiling and jutting chimney. In fact, it’s so small that anyone walking up the stairs is forced to duck and bend just to enter the room! People were generally shorter in the early 1800’s than they are today. Nevertheless, at 5’8”, Poe would have to have watched his head when winding his way up the tight, unlit staircase at night. The LEFT WALL CHIMNEY OUTLINE Garret Chimney The bending line you see in the wall is the chimney chute leading from Outline the lower floors to the roof. There were three fireplaces in the house. The fireplace in the back room on the first floor was where meals were prepared. The other two – one in the parlor on the first floor and one in the front bedroom on the second floor – fed into this chimney. They were used primarily for heat. Poe’s room on the top floor was heated by the hot air that rose from the rest of the house. This was great in the winter. In the summer, though, the hot air also rose to the garret – meaning that Poe’s room could be over 100 degrees, even with the window open. The RIGHT EMPTY WALL Garret WALL You might have noticed that this room doesn’t have any closets. So Empty Wall where did Poe put his clothes? Remember, Poe was extremely poor during his time in Baltimore. He probably only had one change of clothes. At night, his hat, coat, and top garments would be hung on a peg in the wall. Like many gentlemen of his day, Poe was said to have worn only black, with no trace of white showing as he walked or visited around town. He also often wore parts of his uniform fro m West Point – the wool overcoat was the warmest thing he would have owned. Years after Poe’s death, a woman named Mary Devereaux, whom Poe was romantically involved with in Baltimore, recalled his appearance: Mr. Poe was about five feet eight inches tall, and had dark, almost black hair, which he wore long and brushed back in student style over his ears. It was as fine as silk. His eyes were large and full, gray and piercing. He was entirely clean shaven. His nose was long and straight, and his features finely cut. The expression about his mouth was beautiful. He was pale, and had no color. His skin was of a clear, beautiful olive. He had a sad, melancholy look. He was very slender…but had a fine figure, an erect military carriage, and a quick step. But it was his manner that most charmed. It was elegant. When he looked at you it seemed as if he could read your thoughts. His voice was pleasant and musical but not deep. He always wore a black frock- coat buttoned up, with a cadet or military collar, a low turned-over shirt collar, and a black cravat tied in a loose knot. He did not follow the fashions, but had a style of his own. His was a loose way of dressing as if he didn’t care. You would know that he was very different from the ordinary run of young men. -- Mary Devereaux, writing for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, December, 1889 The REAR SLANTING CEILING Garret WALL You may have noticed the odd shape of Poe’s bedroom. Poe lived in the Slanting Ceiling garret, or top room of the house, just below the roof. The slanting ceilings match the severe slant of the roof and create a very uniquely shaped room.