BALTIMORE (AP) -- Vandals have made off with wooden steps that once lead to the front door of Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore home and also scribbled on the door of the home.

The graffiti has been painted over, but members of a group working to reopen the now closed museum say they are worried the property is now vulnerable to vandalism. City officials say crews regularly check on the home once lived in by the author of macabre short stories and poems including "The Raven."

The Baltimore Sun (http://bsun.md/TpaE0l ) reports the city plans to pay the B&O Railroad Museum $180,000 to renovate the home. After that, a nonprofit called Poe Baltimore is set to take over. The museum had been operated by the city but closed in September.