Hird Lake, also known as Lake Hird, is a small freshwater lake at Camp Ocawasin, 625 Macopin Road in West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey, USA. Surrounded by wooded hills, the lake forms part of a private property that was formerly operated as a summer camp by the Passaic Boys Club. The grounds contain a traditional lakeside lodge, recreational facilities and wooded areas around the water, which was used for swimming, boating and other camp activities. The property later became known as the Lodge at Ocawasin and was also used for weddings and private events. In 2025, the lake and its surrounding campgrounds were transformed into Camp Crystal Lake for a television prequel to the Friday the 13th horror film franchise.
Hird Lake appears in Crystal Lake (2026), the horror television series created by Brad Caleb Kane and produced by A24 for Peacock. The lake represents the fictional Crystal Lake, where young Jason Voorhees disappears beneath the water and his mother Pamela struggles to accept his presumed death. The location is particularly prominent in the opening episode and the second episode, which recreates the famous canoe sequence from Friday the 13th (1980).
In Crystal Lake (2026), Hird Lake appears in the first-season premiere, Camp Crystal (2026), during the drowning of eleven-year-old Jason Voorhees (Callum Vinson). Jason has been attending the summer camp where his mother Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini) works as a cook. While the children are swimming in the lake, Jason is bullied by other campers and attempts to retrieve a ball that has been thrown into deeper water. Camp counsellor Claudette (Danielle Kotch), who should be supervising the children, is distracted by her boyfriend Barry (Phoenix Parnevik). Jason gets into difficulties in the water and begins calling for help.
Hearing her son’s cries, Pamela rushes towards the lake and dives into the water to rescue him. She swims desperately towards the spot where he was last seen, but Jason disappears beneath the surface before she can reach him. Pamela continues searching and screaming his name, unable to find any trace of her son. The scene was filmed at Hird Lake, with the wooded shoreline and open water providing the setting for the tragedy that begins the series.
The lake returns later in the same episode, now set almost a year after Jason’s disappearance. Pamela repeatedly visits the waterfront, convinced that her son remains somewhere beneath the water. She stands on the dock looking out across the lake when police chief Levon Brooks (William Catlett) arrives to check on her. He attempts to persuade her to return home and begin rebuilding her life, but Pamela refuses to accept that Jason is dead. The wooden dock, surrounding trees and opposite shoreline are visible during their conversation.
In the second episode, Part II (2026), Hird Lake is used for a sequence directly inspired by the ending of the original Friday the 13th. Pamela takes a canoe onto the lake, drifting across the water while remembering her son. As she sits alone in the boat, she notices what appears to be Jason reaching towards her from beneath the surface. She leans over the side and extends her hand into the water, hoping to touch him.
On the shore, Levon Brooks and Officer Dorf (Cameron Scoggins) arrive in a police car and attempt to attract Pamela’s attention. Suddenly, a disfigured figure resembling Jason emerges from the water behind the canoe and grabs her, pulling her into the lake. Pamela then awakens, revealing that the attack was a nightmare. The scene closely recreates the final sequence of Friday the 13th (1980), in which Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) experiences a similar attack while resting in a canoe on Crystal Lake.
Hird Lake and the surrounding Camp Ocawasin grounds continue to represent the fictional summer camp as preparations begin for its reopening. In the fourth episode, A New Beginning (2026), new workers arrive to help restore the camp, while Pamela attempts to regain her former job as the cook. The camp reopens in the fifth episode, The New Blood (2026), despite the mysterious deaths occurring in the surrounding area. The production also reconstructed the boathouse from the original Friday the 13th, allowing the series to recreate the killing of camp counsellors Barry and Claudette. The building was specially constructed for the new production rather than being the original boathouse from the 1980 film.
The filmmakers originally considered returning to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Hardwick Township, where the first Friday the 13th was filmed, but were unable to secure permission to use the property. Instead, they selected Camp Ocawasin and Hird Lake, approximately an hour away. The larger body of water also suited the revised story, in which Jason disappears without his body being recovered. Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane wanted the lake to appear sufficiently extensive for the missing boy to have been carried into deeper water or a secluded inlet. Production designer Lester Cohen also recreated the original film’s boathouse, reproducing its appearance in considerable detail. The series was filmed around New Jersey between June and October 2025 and premiered on 15 October 2026.
Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake (2026) was filmed in New Jersey, primarily around West Milford, Blairstown, Boonton, Newark and communities in the northern part of the state.
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