Anyone who’s familiar with the movie Friday the 13th Part 1 knows Camp Crystal Lake is where the world met Jason Voorhees, one of the most famous killers in movie horror history.
Fewer people know that Camp Crystal Lake is actually right here in New Jersey!
Off a woodsy dirt road in the Kittatinny Mountain region of northwestern New Jersey, in tiny Sand Pond, a silver canoe is anchored in the exact spot where Jason made his first appearance at the end of the 1980 slasher film.
From any vantage point, the lake, the shore, the canoes racked on the sandy beach, and the rustic log cabins look almost exactly as they did at Camp Crystal Lake, the fictional setting where a group of teens fell to a mysterious murderer stalking counselors in the woods.
One can visualize a muddy, decomposing Jason popping up, capsizing the canoe and pulling Alice—the last girl standing in the movie’s killing spree, played by Adrienne King—under the water in the film’s final jump scare.
Crystal Lake Tours will take you on a journey through the location where the movie was filmed in Hardwick, which is part of Warren County. In real life, the campground is called Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, which stands for North Bergen Boy Scouts.
Camp Crystal Lake—chillingly and informally referred to as “Camp Blood” in director Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th—is a real-life place you can tour, along with several other filming spots in the surrounding area of Warren County, New Jersey, not far from the Pennsylvania border.
Producers of Friday the 13th found the perfect backdrop, with its aging camp and swampy body of water, for their creepy story.
Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, the nearly century-old, 380-acre Boy Scout camp in Hardwick is run by the Boy Scouts of America Northern New Jersey Council.
For about two months every summer, campers take part in weeklong sessions, involving activities like swimming, canoeing and crafts.
Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco has been known by Scouts and Scouters for its beauty and signature mountain views.
With easy access to the Delaware River and other local attractions, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco is perfectly located to offer a well-rounded challenge second to none for any Scouts BSA Troop.
And with horseback riding and newly designed mountain biking trails, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco offers a great program for scouts of all ages.
The camp is off limits to the public outside of official tour dates, but every spring, early and late summer, and fall, a company called Crystal Lake Adventures brings in Friday the 13th props, signs and memorabilia—sometimes even the stars themselves.
Crystal Lake Adventures has been leading tours since 2011.
Anyone thinking this is a great place to spend today might want to know all tours for Friday, May 13, 2022 were fully sold out more than a month ago! You can look for future opportunities.
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