Crystal Spring Park is a municipal park maintained by the town of Laurel Springs, Camden County, New Jersey. It is located at the eastern end of Laurel Lake. It is very tiny, but has a natural spring that was the favorite location of poet Walt Whitman during his summer stays here. Between 1876 and 1884, Whitman spent summers in his later life at a friend’s farm house a few blocks from Laurel Lake. Whitman converted one of the barn buildings into his summer home. Whitman said that Laurel Lake was the “prettiest lake in either America or Europe”. Crystal Spring is at the bottom of a hill in a beautiful wooded area at the edge of Laurel Lake. The entrance is at Lakeview and West Elma Avenues. Parking is available at the location. Walk down a hill on a path which winds around at the bottom to the right to the spring. The spring is in an alcove, pooling at the base, and then flowing in a very small stream to the lake.
Much of Whitman’s work for “Specimen Days” and part of “Leaves of Grass” were written here. He would sit by the spring, drink the water, and take mud baths near the spring to help his recovery after a partial stroke.
