House of the Day: Where Poe Spent a Midday, Cheery

Edgar Allan Poe is famous for his ability to craft stories and poems of dread. But the author of "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" took a break from massaging the macabre when he wrote a story that largely focused on just describing this property's beauty.

Built in the Colonial era, this $1.285 million property in Philadelphia received periodic visits from Poe, who became enamored with its fecund landscape. Spanning 1.62 acres, the residence overlooks a verdant valley that runs down to Wissahickon Creek. Poe made the river and its surroundings the setting of his travel story, "Morning on the Wissahiccon" (in which he recommended that travelers visit in "the brightest glare of the noonday sun" to appreciate the setting's full beauty and avoid any "dreariness of effect").

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Named "Spring Bank," the 7,500-square-foot, three-story home has seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and a luxury eat-in kitchen. It also boasts an enclosed back porch -- along with an abundance of windows -- that afford views stunning enough to have brightened the mood of an author who specialized in chronicling bad ones.

Loretta C. Witt of Fox & Roach, Realtors, has the listing.

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