Laurel Museum--Poe Death Exhibit and 150 Years of Laurel

Our local historical museum, the Laurel Museum, is not very big but does do a good job at rotating exhibits. The building was originally apartments for workers at the Laurel Mill, which used to be across the street. Now, the town pool is there.

Laurel Museum

An exhibit we saw over Thanksgiving weekend is the Poe Baltimore Art Installation Edgar Allen Poe "Body" and Casket. It's a small exhibit that examines the mysterious circumstances around Poe's death in Baltimore in 1849. It includes a recreation of the man and his last resting place.

Recreation of Poe's casket and the man

Votive candles

Poe was discovered passed out on the streets of Baltimore on October 3, 1849, dressed in ragged clothing that did not fit him well, as if he had pulled them from a trash can. Poe usually dressed quite properly. The exhibit shows an example of the typical outfit of a gentleman in the late 1840s. Poe was not fabulously wealthy but he could afford then current styles.

How the times have changed

Poe was taken by a friend to Washington College Hospital where his delirium continued until his death on October 7. He was unable to explain what had happened to him. A set of large panels dramatizes the events.

Poe's fate, much like one of his stories

The exhibit was quite small but very interesting. It was in the museum's basement, right next to the gift shop. Upstairs was an exhibit meant for last year though the museum was closed because of Covid. The exhibit celebrates 150 years of Laurel. Laurel was incorporated as a city in 1870, though it obviously existed as a community long before that. 

The community

In the 1980s, during the Trivial Pursuit craze, the local Jaycees created a Laurel-based trivia game.

At least it wasn't Monopoly

The museum has a View-Master on display which the kids enjoyed looking through. I remember it from my own childhood. 

View-Master and earlier version

Laurel has plenty of entertainment venues, some still around (the horserace track) and some gone (the bowling alley).

Entertainment in Laurel

Technology in Laurel has advanced through time. The computer below had a catalog of images on 5 1/4 floppy disks! The instructions for a rotary phone fascinated me too.

Old tech

The museum also has housewares from the last 150 years.

"Teapots and Things" would be a good name for a store

Another display has pages from a World War II war ration book.

War rationing

Civic organizations are represented in another display. The Knights of Columbus have been very active (though they have only been around for a hundred years). The sword, scabbard, and baldric are from George Jones, the second Grand Knight in the 1920s.

Knights of Columbus regalia

We are always excited to see new exhibits at our local museum. The kids like it because the museum is close by and not very big, so it isn't a long visit that can get boring. They don't know what they are missing!