The Old Jail Museum
Jim Thorpe, PA
The Carbon County Prison was built in 1871 and remained in operation for over 100 years until its closure in 1995. The two story building includes 27 cells and a dungeon that was used for solitary confinement until 1980. The same building had a section that served as the living quarters for the warden and his family. This included a living room, sitting room, dining room, two bedrooms, and a large kitchen that the warden's wife used to cook dinner for both her family and for the prisoners.
The stone building was purchased by Tom and Betty McBride and was re-opened as The Old Jail Museum. Tours are held every year starting in the Spring and continuing through Early Fall. My wife loves museums and has talked about this place many times, so she decided to make this one of the stops on our trip to Jim Thorpe to celebrate her birthday.
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There was a presentation in the cell block and a guided tour of the facility. When the tour was over, everybody was invited to stay and explore the grounds for as long as we wanted. We were all allowed to take pictures as well, except for Cell #17 which had a handprint on the wall that was put there by one of the Molly Maguires in the 1870's before he was hanged. As the legend goes, the man said "This handprint will remain as proof of my innocence" before he was executed, and the handprint remains on the wall to this day despite many attempts to scrub it off.
The Dungeon lives up to its name. They brought us all down here and turned off the lights for a few moments to give us a taste of what it was like to be in solitary confinement at the Carbon County Prison. It's hard to believe that this was still being used as recently as 1980.
The Old Jail is a fun place to spend a few hours, especially if you're interested in the history of Northeast PA. I'm not sure I buy into the ghost stories about the handprint, but it's still pretty cool to see.
