Treading in Poe’s footsteps
His imagination was singularly vigorous and creative; and no doubt it derived additional force from the habitual use of morphine, which he swallowed in great quantity, and without which he would have found it impossible to exist. It was his practice to take a very large dose of it immediately after breakfast each morning, — or, rather, immediately after a cup of strong coffee, for he ate nothing in the forenoon, — and then set forth alone, or attended only by a dog, upon a long ramble among the chain of wild and dreary hills that lie westward and southward of Charlottesville, and are there dignified by the title of the Ragged Mountains.
Upon a dim, warm, misty day, toward the close of November, and during the strange interregnum of the seasons which in America is termed the Indian summer, Mr Bedloe departed as usual for the hills. The day passed, and still he did not return.
— Edgar Allan Poe, "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains"
Today I learned that when I move to Charlottesville, I can go for a walk in those very same Ragged Mountains. I’d read the story several years ago but forgotten where the mountains in question were. It’ll be interesting to see if they’re as "wild and dreary" as Poe says they are.
(I just had to mention that. I’m still giddy with excitement about the move.)
But there will be no morphine or mysterious disappearances involved. Though there may very well be strong coffee…
I didn’t know that Poe made mention of Charlottesville in his work. He’s considered something of saint around grounds, despite the fact he was drunk most of the time he was enrolled. Then again, that’s true of most present-day UVa undergraduates.