On Saturday November 7, myself, Dr. Hoffman and some of my classmates met for a tour of the Whitman House at 328 Mickle Street (now known as Martin Luther King Blvd).  To be honest, I was kind of dreading this trip.  A Saturday morning, in Camden, at the Walt Whitman House was not my idea of a fun time.  But the truth is, I loved it.

When we first arrived we were greeted outside and given a brief overview of the area during the time Whitman lived there.  Presently, the house is part of only four row homes standing across from a prison.  We were told that it is something of a miracle that the house still stands and I agree.  When you think about all of the changes Camden has gone through, the fact that this house is still there, is amazing.

Before we went into the house we met Dick, our tour guide, and he gave us a short history of Whitman’s time in Camden.  Dick was knowledgeable, funny and overall a great tour guide.  You could tell talking about Whitman excited him, and in turn I also felt excited by the idea of being in the same place Whitman once lived.

As we toured through the house we were able to look up close at personal items of Walt’s like his furniture, pictures, boots and even his bathtub!  As we toured through the house, Dick told stories about Walt and his family and friends.  My favorite part of the house was the stained glass window that shined down the stairwell- it was simply beautiful.  In fact, “simply beautiful” is the perfect way to sum up Whitman’s House.  From the architecture, to the wall paper, to the photos on the wall, everything was something to awe at and I was taken with how close the house was to the original.  Dick had pictures from when Whitman lived there and in it’s restoration, the house has truly been made to look like it did when he was there.  Although some of the items are replicas, many of them are actual items of Whitman’s that were donated back from either his family or his friends.

While this is not a trip I feel compelled to take again, I encourage anyone interested in Whitman to make a visit to the house once in their life.  Not only was this a lesson on Whitman’s life but I also learned a lot about the history of Camden as well.