Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892, in Camden after years of declining health caused largely by strokes he suffered beginning in the 1870s.
By the end of his life, Whitman had become something unusual in American culture: a living literary icon. Admirers, writers, artists, and curious pilgrims regularly visited his modest home on Mickle Street to sit with the aging poet.
Interesting to note: Whitman designed his tomb himself and he reportedly visited it while it was being completed.
Whitman’s funeral drew hundreds of mourners, including laborers, intellectuals, artists, politicians, and ordinary readers, a remarkably diverse crowd that reflected the democratic ideals Whitman held dear.
His coffin was displayed in his Camden home, and people reportedly passed through to pay respects before burial.
Whitman’s brain was removed for scientific study by the American Anthropometric Society to analyze his genius. However, the brain was accidentally dropped and destroyed by a laboratory assistant before it could be properly examined. The remains were discarded, making it a "spectacular failure" in early brain studies.
What makes Whitman’s burial site in Harleigh Cemetery so powerful is that it feels deeply connected to his character and poetry itself, rough, rooted, public, imperfect, democratic, intimate, and strangely alive more than 130 years after his death.
"The powerful play goes on..."
