"Poe House Museum May Be Nevermore"

The headline of an 8/10/11 San Francisco Chronicle story, "Poe House Museum May Be Nevermore," saddened me. Apparently Baltimore government officials have stopped funding as a museum the house where the famed resident of Baltimore and writer Edgar Allan Poe lived for several years with his young wife Virginia and other family members. It was there that he wrote his first short stories and had his first literary success, winning $50 in a contest for one of his stories. The Poe House is designated a landmark, so it will not be torn down, but the museum housed there is in danger of closing for lack of funding. I understand that in these bad economic times, there are other priorities for funding, but it is always sad when our connections to the literary past are severed or limited.