Jennie Palmer Buckbee
Not Exactly the Edgar Allen Poe “Gravesite Toaster”
Who exactly was the “Poe Toaster”? For over seven decades, an unidentified person paid an annual tribute to American author Edgar Allan Poe by visiting the commemorative stone which marks his original grave in Baltimore, Maryland, in the early hours of January 19th, Poe’s birthday. This stranger would pour a glass of Martell cognac and raise a “toast”. He then arranged three red roses on the monument in a distinctive configuration and departed, leaving the unfinished bottle of cognac.