Walt Whitman’s life spanned most of the 19th Century (1819-1892). Do you know what U.S. President during his lifetime he admired the most? He wrote a poem about him entitled, O Captain! My Captain!:

One of Walt Whitman’s favorite pastimes was to visit the Jersey Shore where he often enjoyed the harvest from the sea. Considered a delicacy today, which seafood did he enjoy the most?

During the Civil War, Walt Whitman volunteered his time and cared for the wounded soldiers in the military hospitals in and around Washington, D.C. He provided the soldiers with:

The Walt Whitman House is one of New Jersey’s historic treasures. What year did it become a State Historic Site? Clues: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism. Jackie Robinson, the first African American in modern Major League Baseball, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Taft-Hartley Act (also known as the Labor-Management Relations Act) was passed over the President’s veto. Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer dies.

Walt Whitman was very athletic – he enjoyed playing and watching many sports. Do you know what his favorite sport was? He said that this sport was “…the hurrah game of the republic!”

Who was Walt Whitman’s favorite General? He later served as U.S. President:

While living in Camden, NJ, Walt Whitman attained international fame as the “Great Poet of Democracy”. Many famous people visited him from America and around the world. Pick from the following list one such distinguished guest:

Walt Whitman was a great traveler. He loved to take long trips out into the country and through the great American cities of his time. What two cities did he not visit?

Today’s Walt Whitman House Historic Site was the only home Walt Whitman ever owned. It is here that he grew to international fame and it is here that he completed the last edition of his hallmark book of poetry, Leaves of Grass. The Walt Whitman House is ranked amongst our Nation’s most important historical and cultural places. Do you know what year that it was designated a National Historic Landmark? Clues: John F. Kennedy was President. The average cost of a new car was $3,125.00. The cost of gasoline was 28 cents per gallon. The Cuban Missile Crisis nearly brings the World to the brink of war when the Soviet Union plans to deploy missiles in Cuba, the United States blockades Cuba and the USSR agrees to dismantle Soviet missile silos.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (1856) is one of Walt Whitman’s timeless poems. He calls out to future generations saying, “Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt… I loved well the stately and rapid river…” Do you know what river he is crossing in the poem? Do you know the name of the river he enjoyed crossing on a ferryboat when he lived in Camden and wrote about in his book Specimen Days (1882)?