Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of stories exploring what’s going on in our local parks.

After months of construction, renovations, waiting and uncertainty, the transformation at Edgar Allan Poe Park is now complete. The result is a Kingsbridge Heights-area space transformed into a bustling, kid-friendly destination spot with a busy playground, a refurbished historical landmark and an open visitors center.

Run by two paid staff members, a community associate and a playground associate, the visitors center is a recent addition, but the small yet enthusiastic team is not wasting any time.

The “Raven”-themed building already holds Tuesday morning story time at 10 a.m. and daycare at 11 a.m. It will soon have yoga for beginners on Thursday and Friday mornings. Community Associate Lucy Aponte said they are still planning for more programming at the center, but already had many exciting events arranged for the summer, including a women’s empowerment workshop and a puppet show and puppet-making workshop.

Other activities at the center include board games, creative writing, knitting and crocheting, and arts and crafts. The week before Father’s Day, children made cards for their dads using art supplies at the tables in the visitors center.

In addition to the playground, game tables are set up outside the visitors center. This even gets nostalgic adults up and joining in on the fun. Aponte, who has worked as a tutor, has also been teaching a woman who comes in once a week how to read and write in Spanish. Although Spanish is the woman’s first language, she never attended school.

Also inside the park, is the recently renovated former home of its namesake, the famous author Edgar Allan Poe.

Poe Cottage is not the same place it was when an impoverished Poe moved there from Manhattan even after achieving literary success with “The Raven.” You can no longer hear the bells of the University Church from its location in Old Fordham Village, whether they be the silver tinkling kind, golden wedding type, brazen alarm bells or iron tolling chimes of which Poe wrote. The din of the city — people, cars, commerce — that now surrounds the small house and 100,000-square-foot park at the Grand Concourse between 192nd Street and Kingsbridge Road drowns out any other noise.

Edgar Allan Poe relocated to the white farmhouse, now known as Poe Cottage, in 1844, hoping that the Bronx country air would cure his wife Virginia’s tuberculosis. It originally stood on Kingsbridge Road to the east of its intersection with Valentine Avenue, across the street from its current location, the public park that used to be an apple orchard.

A glimpse into the Bronx’s rural past, the cottage symbolizes Bronx history. While living there, Poe wrote many of his most popular poems including “The Bells,” “Eureka,” and “Annabel Lee.” After Virginia passed away in 1847, he continued to reside there until he died during a trip to Baltimore two years later.

One of the biggest tourist attractions in the Bronx after the Bronx Zoo and New York Botanical Garden, the cottage is managed by the Bronx County Historical Society. They work with Fordham Bedford Housing Corporations and the Ravens, Friends of Poe Park, a volunteer group, to keep the park safe and drug-free. With recent renovations costing a total of $480,000, the cottage received a fresh coat of paint and repairs were made to the stairs, walls, and beams.

The park is small, but a great community hangout spot for north Fordham area residents. Between the late 1910s and early ‘70s, the park was a popular location for outdoor concerts, dance contests and other social events. The circular bandstand was erected in 1925 giving artists a place to perform. Past performers included big names such as Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller.

Crime at Poe Park is very little to nonexistent. Vandalism was frequent in the 1970s, but became less common in the next few decades with the use of live-in caretakers at Poe Cottage.

Residents say police are good about keeping the park safe and efforts are currently being made to take care of a single homeless person who occasionally stays there. Otherwise the recreational area is mostly frequented by kids and parents in the mornings and after school.

Ed. Note: Poe Cottage is open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. and groups may visit by appointment. For group tours, call (718) 881-8900.