Milford chronicle., 1889-06-14
POES FORDHAM COTTAGE.
THE PLACE WHERE THE POET
PASSED HIS OUlETEST DAYS.

PASSED HIS QUlETEST DAYS.
lie Moved Out There So His wife ConI,
get Good Ain and Dig Dirt"-Th'
0IotherIy Friends OF His Last Days
Doing Editorial Work at $40 Week
The Poe cottage where it now stands oc
cupies a little plateau on the bluff, few
minutes walk above the Fordham station Of
the Harlem railroad. The road winds up the
hill from the railway over q natural pave
ment Of the hard gray gneiss. In the sum
mer one might pass the cottage without
knowing there was one there. One end Of il
is close upon the road, but the sides and rooi
are so covered with vines and shaded with
trees that the foliage hides the structure in a
rustic arbor. The cottage itself is a simple
and primitive affair that was built more than
seventy years ago. 1t is long, low and box
shaped, the sides as well as the roof being
shingled. A broad porch runs along the
south side facing the lawn, and in front Of
this grows vigorous cherry tree which was
! planted by Poe in lS47 and which has rarely
failed during recent years to bring out full
crop Of fruit On the lower floor there are
two large square rooms and kitchen. The
middle room was used by Poe as a dining and
sitting room, and his visitors we're also re-
ceived here after his wife became ill She
then occupied the front room as bedroom,
and it was there she died
IN THE FASHIONABLE QUARTER
The second floor has three rooms with low
ceilings, but they are neatly plastered, airy
and comfortable. One of these over the
| front room is of the same size and is said to
-. D. !
fashioned brick chimney runs up through
the roof and has an open fireplace, where
cheerful wood fire can blaze and crackle in
winter 1t is said that Poe wrote two of his
latest poems, "Ulalume" and Eureka, " in
this room. The quietest days Of his life
were spent in his home in Fordham. When
he became famous from 1.-THE Raven" and
some Of his stories, Poe was living in the city
in humble quarters near Washington square
This was then the fashionable neighborhood
Of New York, and brown stone dwellings
had only just begun to start up along the
lower end Of Fifth avenue.
The reputation which he obtained from his
literary work did not materially increase
his means. He h0d for several years been
doing editorial work on The Evening Mirror
at a salary of $40 week. He subsequently
went out to live in house along the boule-
ward in the neighborhood of Eightieth street,
which was then well out OF town. The de
cision in libel suit in his favor gave him O..
few hundred dollars in ready money, and IN
the spring Of 1916 he rented the Fordhalm
house and went with his wife and her motlSer,
Mrs. GLENN, to live there. His wife, Vir-
ginia, was then suffering from consumption.
She rallied for little, but soon again began
ne dil and died in the following year
THE grounds around the cey,age comprise
about two acres they slope away into
shady, grassy hollow. A bare ledge Of rocks
overlools the cliff and the valley nearly 100
feet below To the east the view stretches
into Connecticut and over the sound to the
blue and distant hills of Long Island There
is a tradition that a British battery occupied
this site for some time during the Revolution.
Poe was visited frequently here by those
who knew him through his reputation. His
expenses were small and his duties only such
as he cared to assume. He took long walks,
often going to the city on foot, and his favor
ito route was down and over the Harlem at
High bridge
MRS. CRoMwELLs RECoLLECTIoNs.
One Of his neighbors, Mrs. Reuben Crom-
well, who lived for many years few hum
bred yards from the Poe cottage, remembers
him when, as a girl, she saw him for the
first time in a cherry tree picking fruit
She thought him mice looking and socia-
BILE" He told her he had brought his wife
out there ito get good air and to dig in
the dirt" but Mrs. Cromwell observed, "she
was too weak and thin to dig much, and she
soon became sick and never went out" Their
house, she said, was plainly furnished, and
they seemed to be very poor; but they were
contented. Mrs. GLENN was called "Muddie"
and Poe Eddie"
On the morning that she heard Of Poes
death in Baltimore, Mrs. Cromwell went over
to the house and found Mrs. GLENN packing
up. She had received letter from Poe say
ing that he was about to be married again TO
a Baltimore woman and be would come for
her She was overcome at the news of his
death and repeated that il she could have
been there to nurse him through his bad
spell" he would have recovered. The neigh
bors raised money for her to 60 on to Balti-
more. Poe had been behind in his rent for
several months, and Mrs, GLENN afterward
returned to sell of their little household
goods. OF these Mrs Cromwell obtained a
clock, rocking chair and the old family
Bible
The cottage which Poe obtained for 500
year has been rented during recent years for
500. In 1883 the house and land were sold
at public auction for $500 For a number Of
years it has been occupied by Mrs. L. d
Dechert, the widow Of an engineer who as
sisted in making the plans of Central park,
and subsequently laid out the avenues and
drives of Fordham With the growth of the
city, land has greatly increased in value
within few years in this neighborhood, and
the sight is one OF the best in that portion OF |
Fordham. The owner now intends to tear
down the house If it is not taken by the park
department, and to dispose Of the property
in building lots-New York Tribune