Poe's Baltimore IV: Touring the Westminster Burying Grounds & Catacombs on Halloween! - Entrepreneur Generations

Exploring Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore is one of my recent pastimes: Here is my entry about first visiting his grave; here is my entry about visiting his house and museum; and here is my entry about visiting the site where he died.

One thing I had never done, though, is attend the Annual Halloween Tour at the Westminster Burying Ground, a Baltimore tradition for over thirty years. This allows visitors to tour to catacombs below the church, and these are only opened once a year (or by appointment).

Flier and banner

I honestly didn't know much of what to expect. I had to look up the definition of a catacomb, which is an underground cemetery. I learned that night, however, that this isn't a traditional catacomb, but one created after-the-fact; before the church was built there at the corner of Fayette and Green Streets, there was only burial grounds. These grounds were established in 1787, and it held the remains of many of the most prominent citizens of Baltimore when the Westminster Presbyterian Church was built on the same land in 1852. So not to destroy the graves of the people already buried there, they built the church on pillars and columns over top the graves, forming catacombs out of the existing graveyard.

Katie, Amber, and I.

On Halloween night, my friends Katie, Amber, and I arrived a few minutes before 6pm (the event ran from 6-9pm) and found a line that already was stretching half a block. We discovered several of the people in line came in costume, adding to the festive air of the night; later, our first tour guide was dressed as a jocular octopus. And despite the lengthy line, we were whisked into the church in around 15 minutes, along with a group of about ten other Poe fans.

Our first stop on the tour was in front of the gargantuan organ on the first floor of the church. As big as a church wall and named Opus 577, this was a beautiful restored 1882 Johnson & Son Organ. Musicians played Count Dracula on the pipes, and the sound was transcendent. Apparently they hold monthly film showings accompanied by the organ; the series is called "Lunch Under the Pipes" and the most recent was The Circus starring Charlie Chaplin, on Nov. 19th. (Schedule here.)

Line at beginning of night.

We were then led down to the catacombs, which were, as expected, plenty creepy. There were both vaults and crypts, and the vaults were in small enclosed rooms, where we all squeezed in and listened to a knowledgeable tour guide tell us about how the vaults worked and who is buried beneath the weathered tombstones, which date back to the 18th century. Many of the tombstones, some over 200 years old, were weathered and difficult to read.

The most memorable was the tombstone of Katharine Bentalou (I'm sure her family has something to do with Bentalou Street here in Baltimore), who died at the age of 53 in the arms of her husband: "Herein are deposited the remains of KATHARINE BENTALOU, daughter of JACOB KEEPORTS, who was born in this city Gay-street on the 8th of April 1759. married at the house in which she was born on the 20th of December 1780, to PAUL BENTALOU, & on the 11th of January 1818 at half past 3 in the morning expired in the arms of her tender and disconsolate husband at the age of 53 years 9 month & 3 days. the last 30 years and 90 days at which passed in a most endearing happiness. Her death was as calm and reserved as her life was pure and virtuous." It's really beautiful, isn't it? There's a photo of it below.

In front of the Poe grave monument.

Afterwards, we explored the catacombs some more, before heading outside, to a performance of "A Tell Tale Heart" (they also did "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," and I'm sure others). Local historians and Poe experts were at different locations on the burial grounds, such as Poe's actual grave. An old guy was playing the ghost of General John Stricker, and another man was playing an american merchant sailor, who told us all about grave robbers (for the local medical school). We learned about the "Pennies for Poe" campaign in 1875, organized by a school teacher to raise money for a monument. And we had some cider and popcorn.

Plenty of photos below of the event, which is held annually on Halloween every year by the non-profit Westminster Preservation Trust. It was $5 for adults and well worth it.

There are some upcoming Poe events in Baltimore, with free admission to the Poe House and Museum the weekend of his 207th birthday, Jan. 16 and Jan. 17. I tried finding some information about the Poe Toaster revival, but haven't found anything since some newspaper articles in October about trying out to be the new one... bet we hear soon! something

The vault of the Robb family.

William Robb, who died in 1804. He died at age 53 and was "a native of Scotland and many years a respectable Merchant in this city."

Swan family crypt.

They honestly didn't need to add these spider webs. The catacombs are already creepy enough.

"Herein are deposited the remains of KATHARINE BENTALOU, daughter of JACOB KEEPORTS, who was born in this city Gay-street on the 8th of April 1759. married at the house in which she was born on the 20th of December 1780, to PAUL BENTALOU, & on the 11th of January 1818 at half past 3 in the morning expired in the arms of her tender and disconsolate husband at the age of 53 years 9 month & 3 days. the last 30 years and 90 days at which passed in a most endearing happiness. Her death was as calm and reserved as her life was pure and virtuous."

Line was steady all night.

The Burial Grounds.

General John Stricker, an inhabitant of the graveyard, regales the crowd with tales.

Performances of "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Raven"

Free cider and popcorn

Burial vault of the family of Joseph Williams, a Baltimore merchant.

The crypt of the Swan family.

Catacombs.

The Organ, the Opus 577, a full restored 1882 Johnson & Son Organ.

from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/1mnq8EV Poe's Baltimore IV: Touring the Westminster Burying Grounds & Catacombs on Halloween! - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

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