Rumor has it that the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe was at this week?s auction of Baltimore?s Horse You Came In On saloon.
While Poe won?t get any of the $1.57 million proceeds of the sale, his presence may have helped ensure that the circa 1775 pub will continue much as it is today.
Howard Gerber, the owner for the past 34 years, said he met with the winning bidder. “He was telling me some of his thoughts. I don?t think he wants to do any massive changes,” Gerber said.
The new owner is John Korlogos of Ellicott City, who also owns the Double T Diner.
For Gerber, the saloon has been his baby for the past 34 years. He said it was difficult to sell but the time was right.
“My mother is 90 years old and lives in Florida,” Gerber said. “I haven?t been able to spend more than one week a year to visit her.”
He said that he wants to finally pursue his goal of a law career.
When word spread Wednesday that the saloon was up for sale, hundreds of patrons, some who hadn?t visited in years, came by to pay their respects.
The saloon got its name in 1972 after a patron rode up to the bar on a horse and ordered a drink, and no one missed a beat.
Poe, an author and poet, is said to have been found near death on a street not far from the saloon in 1849, said Denise Whitman, associate director for the Association for thePreservation of Federal Hill and Fells Point. “It is a pretty good assumption that [Poe] probably frequented the saloon,” Whitman said.
She said that neighbors hope the saloon maintains its character under its new owner.
“It does have quite a legacy with its kind of informal title as the oldest saloon in America,” Whitman said. “It?s a comfortable place. It?s not pretentious, and it looks like it is a couple of hundred years old.”
Over the next 45 days as the deal is finalized, Gerber said the pub will stay open until the new owner takes over.
