BALTIMORE, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum reopened after being closed for a year as Baltimore handed over control to a private non-profit, officials said.
The Poe House closed in September 2012 when the city said it could no longer afford the $85,000 it cost to keep the museum open as a tourist attraction.
Poe Baltimore, a non-profit organization, was created to run the museum and officially took control Saturday during a ceremony, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore Poe President Kristen Harbeson took swigs of cognac and exchanged a stuffed raven as part of the ceremony. Cognac was Poe's favorite drink and the raven was a reference to one of the writer's most famous works.
"With its reopening we are giving people a chance to walk, think and dream in the same space that Edgar Allan Poe lived," Rawlings-Blake said.
The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum is scheduled to open and free to visitors throughout the month of October. After that, Poe Baltimore plans to keep the museum open during tourist season and closed during winter months, the newspaper reported.
