Historic Poe Cottage to receive $450K structural upgrades
BY ROBERT WIRSING
The Father of Horror and Mystery’s
fi nal home will live ‘forevermore.’
On Wednesday, August 14, Borough
President Ruben Diaz, Jr. announced
he will provide the Edgar Allan Poe
Cottage with $450,000 through his
FY2020 capital budget.
The allocation funds roof and exterior
woodwork installations and exterior
masonry to the 207-year-old cottage.
Located at 2640 Grand Concourse,
the 1.5 story white wood-frame farmhouse
is receiving an accessible entrance,
plantings, pavements and
fencing via $744,000 in City Council
funding.
NYC Parks is currently reviewing
the elected offi cials’ FY2020 capital allocations
to confi rm all proposed projects’
funding status and timeline.
The Parks-owned cottage, which
is a Historic House Trust member, remains
open during renovations.
“In the constantly changing landscape
of our city, Poe Cottage is an anchor
to another time and a tribute to
one of the most consequential writers
who ever lived,” Diaz expressed.
According to Parks and Bronx
County Historical Society, John
Wheeler constructed Poe Cottage in
1812 as a laborer’s dwelling at Kingsbridge
Road.
Poe, the legendary poet and creator
of the American Gothic tale and detective
story, rented the fi ve room cottage
owned by John Valentine for $100 a
year in the spring of 1846.
The Bostonian moved in with his
wife Virginia and his mother-in-law
Maria Clemm hoping Fordham Village’s
fresh country air would cure
Virginia’s tuberculosis.
Its ground fl oor featured a parlor,
a kitchen and Virginia’s bedroom and
the attic housed a bedroom and Poe’s
study.
While residing there, Poe penned
his short story ‘The Cask of Amontillado’
and his poems ‘The Bells,’ ‘Eureka,’
‘Ulalume’ and ‘Annabel Lee.’
Shut the Harding Avenue Throgs Neck Bridge entrance: CB10
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A 4 UGUST 23-29, 2019 BTR
His fi nal prose ‘Landor’s Cottage,’
published in 1849, was inspired by his
own cottage.
Legends suggest Poe drew inspiration
from the Bronx River and the
bells of St. John’s College (now Fordham
University) and would frequent
Highbridge Park.
Virginia, 24, lost her fi ve-year battle
on January 30, 1847, passing away
in her bed.
Poe and Clemm resided there until
Poe’s mysterious death while visiting
Baltimore on October 7, 1849. He was
40-years-old.
Clemm moved to Brooklyn and the
cottage changed owners until the city
purchased it in 1913.
When Fordham’s redevelopment
and Kingsbridge Road’s widening
threatened the cottage, the Shakespeare
Society lobbied the NYS Legislature
to relocate it into Poe Park.
Poe Cottage resides on 2.33 acres
approximately 450 feet north of its
original site.
It was dedicated as a museum on
November 15, 1913.
BCHS became its permanent custodian
in 1975.
Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd
Ultan noted the tiny home’s minimal
furnishings convey how impoverished
people like Poe lived in the late-1840s.
He confi rmed the NYC and NYS
landmark houses Virginia’s bed and
Poe’s rocking chair. Additional furnishings
are period items based on published
descriptions from Poe’s visitors.
“It’s important that the cottage be
preserved because it’s the only home
that Poe lived in that’s still standing,”
Ultan explained.
Poe and his family previously
rented a double room on the Brennen
Farmhouse’s second fl oor from March
1844 to August 1845, formerly located
at West 84th Street.
The farmhouse where Poe wrote
his iconic poem, ‘The Raven,’ was demolished
in 1888 when Manhattan’s
grid street pattern was extended northward
on the Upper West Side.
Poe Cottage is receiving renovations thanks to funding from Diaz and the City Council.
Photo courtesy of Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.’s Offi ce
The Harding Avenue entrance for the Throgs Neck Bridge.
Schneps Media/ Alex Mitchell
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Locust Point has been
battling some severe congestion…
caused by modern
technology.
The residential area is getting
hit hard by traffi c-wary
travellers that try to cut time
out of their trips across the
Throgs Neck Bridge by exiting
the Cross Bronx and
Throgs Neck expressways
further north and following
map app commands to re-enter
the roadway at the foot of
the bridge.
According to the Locust
Point Civic Association
there’s only one solution
- close the bridge’s Harding
Avenue entrance ramp,
which is located at the base of
the span, during the offending
daytime hours, said Locust
Point Civic Association
President, Joe Donovan.
He continued to explain
that Locust Point residents
have quality of life gripes
with the issue at hand, noting
that many years ago a Locust
Point man suffered a fatal
heart attack because emer-
gency services couldn’t reach
him in time due to backup on
the one lane Throgs Neck Expressway
service road.
“Residents are up in arms
about this,” he continued.
The bridge backups are
caused by daytime road closures,
lane shifts and the occasional
traffi c accident.
Community Board 10 sent
a letter to the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
on Wednesday, August 14, requesting
that the entrance be
closed whenever the Queensbound
roadway gets backed
up.
At one time, the letter
states, “The Harding Avenue
Exit was closed Monday
through Thursday from 4 to
7 p.m. It closed each Friday
at noon and remained closed
for the entirety of the weekend.
It re-opened on Monday
at 7 a.m. The exit’s closure
had a positive impact on the
quality-of-life on our lower
Throggs Neck communities.”
Since the exit’s reopening
several years ago, residents
say that they have seen traffi
c on the local streets exponentially
worsen on a daily
basis.
“The traffi c can back up as
far back as East Tremont Avenue
which is roughly seven
blocks from the exit. This is
in addition to the traffi c already
on the expressways as
far back as Randall Avenue,”
the letter stated.
“This is due, in part, aside
from the construction and
vehicular incidents, to the
widespread use of mobile
transportation applications
such as GOOGLE and Waze.
These mobile applications
recommend that motorists
avoid certain portions of the
Throgs Neck Expressway by
traveling through our local
streets to reach the Harding
Avenue entrance,” the letter
continued to explain.
While CB10 is pushing for
the exit to remain closed during
periods of high volume,
Donovan sees an alternative
solution that’s less extreme.
“Why not put a right
turn lane at Harding Avenue
(where it meets East
177th Street),” he said. “The
(bridge) entrance could remain
open all day and residents
wouldn’t have to wait
in bumper to bumper traffi c
(on Harding Avenue) to get
home, it’s a simple solution”
Donovan continued.
The civic association president
has been working with
Councilman Mark Gjonaj to
pressure the NYC Department
of Transportation to install a
turning lane, however nothing
is defi nite at this time, according
to Gjonaj’s offi ce.
“If that doesn’t work then
I believe closing the exit is
the best course of action,” he
said.
CB 10 is “waiting with
baited breath” for the MTA
to respond to the board’s request
to close the exit according
to district manager Matt
Cruz.