America's First Cathedral

MD, November 21, 2009: In 1806, John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States, laid the cornerstone for the country's first cathedral, The Cathedral of the Assumption. The cathedral was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who designed the United States Capital. The design of the dome was suggested by Thomas Jefferson. The cathedral is the mother church of American Catholicism, hosting seven provincial councils at a time when the Diocese of was co-extensive with the United States and three plenary councils. The Third Council promulgated the Baltimore Catechism. It was the largest church council held outside of Rome since the Council of Trent.

The late Pope John Paul II and the Eye of God:












The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovers over the inside of the dome:
Monument to John Carroll and his successor bishops (left); monument to James Cardinal Gibbons (right), the face of American Catholicism between the Civil War and the Jazz Age:















A painting of the Madonna and Child, a gift by Napoleon's uncle (left); and a side altar to James, the brother of Jesus:















The sacristy:
Tabernacle doors: the Sacred Heart (left) and the Lamb of God (right) with the Hebrew Name of God:














In the crypt, the grave of John Carroll and other bishops of Baltimore:









Except for the crypt where the bishops were buried, the undercroft of the cathedral had been filled with sand. In the recent renovation, the sand was removed and a chapel, several exhibition areas and restrooms were installed.
One accesses the cathedral museum via the crypt:










The Santo Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe:

Nevermore2009

Baltimore, MD, November 21, 2009: Edgar Allen Poe's life touched Boston, Richmond, Philadelphia and New York, but it is Baltimore, where Poe lived for a while and where he later tragically died, that has claimed Poe for its own. They have a house where Poe lived, the street where Poe died, the churchyard with Poe's tomb, an NFL football teamed named the Ravens after one of Poe's most famous poems, an annual city celebration of Poe's birth, and a just-ending year-long celebration of Poe's bicentennial, Nevermore2009.

We spent the day taking in special exhibits, finally visiting the Baltimore Poe house and attending an evening of Poe in film at Westminster Hall, the former Presbyterian church whose churchyard's most famous resident is Edgar Allen Poe.

We started at the small bicentennial exhibit in the Central Library of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.









The library's Edgar Allen Poe Collection includes letters by, to or about Poe, poems hand written by Poe, a lock of his hair and a piece of his coffin.














Piece of coffin and lock of hair:












Poe's last letter to his aunt Maria Poe Clemm in lower right:
Poe's manuscript for "To Elizabeth" and Sara Sigourney Rice's Edgar Allan Poe: A Memorial Volume, Baltimore: Turnbull Brothers, 1877:













Poe lived at 203 Amity Street between 1833 and 1835:


Poe's lap desk is below:











Exhibit in the Poe House kitchen; the portrait (center right) is a copy of a painting of Poe's wife painted after her death:

The stairs to the second floor were steep; the telescope was owned by Poe's stepfather:

The stairs to the third floor was more like a corkscrew, but the garret room was perhaps the nicest in the house:

Attman's has been a Baltimore institution since 1915 when it was in the center of the city's Jewish neighborhood. It's hard for us to try other Baltimore restaurants because the sandwiches at Attman's are just too good. Within a block of what is now Attman's was where Poe was in great distress before he was taken to the hospital where he later died:
The special Poe exhibition at the BMA featured Poe related works by many artist including Manet, Gauguin and Matisse. In the latter 19th century, Poe was more celebrated in France than in America.























The dome of Baltimore's city hall:

Westminster Hall is a former Presbyterian church whose churchyard's most famous resident is Edgar Allen Poe. It is the site of Baltimore's annual celebration of Poe's birthday. This evening was a showing of Mario Cavalli's short film The Cask of Amontillado, a showing of Roger Corman's House of Usher starring Vincent Price, and a panel discussion of Poe in the movies.
The monument over Poe's grave is lit at night: