Rest In Peace, Nevermore: Edgar Allan Poe's Funeral

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SUNDAY: It was many and many a year ago in a ... city by the ... harbor? Our Edgar Allan Poe allusion has completely broken down, and this is only the second sentence. That's ominous.

Richmond and Baltimore may battle forever for ownership of the Mid-Atlantic's creepiest son — Poe grew up in Richmond and lived in both cities before dying, decrepit, in Baltimore — but it seems that Baltimore will have the last laugh. This weekend it's hosting a funeral for Poe, who died in 1849. This year would have been his 200th birthday.

You can participate in an all-night vigil at Poe's grave on Thursday night or watch a funeral procession Sunday morning from his house on Amity Street to the Westminster Hall. A collection of luminaries, dead and alive, will speak — expect Walt Whitman and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. There will be several services to accommodate crowds, so everyone who wants to can pay respects to the inventor of the detective story.

» Westminster Hall, 519 W. Fayette St., Baltimore; Thu., Oct. 8, midnight to 7 a.m. (vigil), Sun., Oct. 11, 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., vigil is free, funeral is $35 in advance or $40 at the door; Poebicentennial.com.

Photo courtesy BACVA