I go to a lot of museums. The biggies are great, but I tend to prefer the pleasures from bite-sized portions of more out-of-the-way, unexpected ones like Bucharest’s National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (hand-written signs about how to love your grandma), Oklahoma’s Woolaroc (largely for nostalgic purposes) and Hanoi’s bizarre Ho Chi Minh Museum, with Soviet-inspired exhibits of winner detergent boxes.
I’m adding one more to the list: Philadelphia’s super Eastern State Penitentiary, considered the country’s first prison and example of ‘modern architecture,’ whatever that means. It operated as a ‘solitary’ prison, all inmates had own cells, from the early 1800s till 1971, when it was abandoned into a eery ruin. Self-guided tours of the paint-peeling site not far from Philadelphia Museum of Art ‘Rocky steps’ are $12 and I could easily have spent three or four hours. I will go back.
Here are some photos that make up yet another reason why more people should go to Philadelphia.
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IeXBPrFvzbM/T8QJSX_DF4I/AAAAAAAAEIs/aaVI-D_wOww/s320/esp8-bull-board.jpg) |
Bulletin board outside one cell |
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5FmhFDlXZ1A/T8QJQUC2pYI/AAAAAAAAEIc/dVlxS9hZq58/s320/esp17-chico2.jpg) |
A certain ‘Chico’ put his name in here in 1960 |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ra68jzBu4uA/T8QJRPTv91I/AAAAAAAAEIk/suSQptWuP2g/s320/esp7-rr-toilet.jpg) |
Me with original cell toilet |
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VsRpGyauJ48/T8QJNjkOcBI/AAAAAAAAEIM/gjvjgFDC4pY/s320/esp15-hall.jpg) |
Cell blocks radiate out spoke-like from center |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uxd5T5Qv9fk/T8QJK7oin9I/AAAAAAAAEIE/Z3AWAHtB1d0/s320/esp14-wall-light.jpg) |
Failed escapee carved a (hard to see) face, below the light |
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0eW6Nn1MEE/T8QJJ-JciEI/AAAAAAAAEH8/_0W-RT6b44M/s320/esp13-baseball.jpg) |
Prison’s baseball field |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g2cDLuURPPc/T8QJIt5I1nI/AAAAAAAAEH0/9Rc3TbaSlfQ/s320/esp12-sting.jpg) |
Sting came her for (close-up) photo for an album cover |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wK0VpEgbBoo/T8QJEf4R4kI/AAAAAAAAEHc/oBpbZ6Wm8pY/s320/esp6-exterior.jpg) |
Castle-like exterior made solely to intimidate — it did to Charles Dickens |
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kaQybkhMKWw/T8QJDTZVmiI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/lRO349Rg9TY/s320/esp5-music-art.jpg) |
(Modern) art in one of the cells |
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hTCuCvXlXhU/T8QJH1NlpTI/AAAAAAAAEHs/2eB5qVDD998/s320/esp11-cell.jpg) |
Much of the cell interiors left as is/was |
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q9rKRQbaV4w/T8QJC_8nbgI/AAAAAAAAEHI/A1oEATLtnLY/s320/esp4-capone.jpg) |
Al Capone’s cell was nicer than most |
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nUH0UNsdFx8/T8QJA80iFeI/AAAAAAAAEG8/pmL7if_UdeE/s320/esp2-courtyard-view.jpg) |
All cells were solitary, each with tiny outdoor area – this would be only view you’d get |
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![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QjnHP6MRshg/T8QJB5JD6PI/AAAAAAAAEHE/6rCIjYlJ6SI/s320/esp3-eye-mural.jpg) |
Art penciled-in over one cell doorway |
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About Robert Reid
Robert Reid is a travel writer (Lonely Planet, New York Times, ESPN), travel expert (Today Show, CNN's Headline News), travel videographer (76-Second Travel Show)
and travel artist (don't ask).
Love the Eastern State Penn! I visited for the first time this winter, on the coldest day of the year. Looks like a more pleasant experience in the summer![:)](/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)