Wonder Behind the Walls

Sean Kelly was one of my best employees ever: creative, engaged, articulate and energetic. So when he left the Prince Music Theater to make the Eastern State Penitentiary a tourist attraction, I knew that this forgotten Philadelphia landmark was in good hands.

Years later, I saw Sean on the History Channel and wondered what had become of America’s first prison designed specifically for penitence. This weekend I discovered the wonders of religion, architecture, sports and legend that are held behind those massive stone walls.

Envisioned by a group of Quakers who believed that jail was a place to inspire true regret, Eastern State’s legendary spoke and wheel design started with a design contest, with a $100 prize for the winning architect. The excellent audio tour, included with admission, offers 40 minutes of fascinating details like that one. You’ll also hear how prison guards wore socks over their shoes to maintain the atmosphere of total silence and that the single circular skylight in each cell was called the ‘eye of God.’

Venture through the maze of cellblocks and you discover stories of notable inmates. Sure, there’s Al Capone, whose cell sported a wood desk, silk lampshade and red bedspread.

There’s Slick Willie Sutton, the notorious bank robber. My personal favorite? Pep the Dog who was incarcerated for killing the Governor of Pennsylvania’s cat (no one could make up that one up!)

An avid baseball fan, I was intrigued with the story of how drugs were smuggled into the prison during the 1960s in baseballs hit over the stone wall and then thrown back by fans—or was it drug dealers?

Is Eastern State haunted? A stop on the audio tour whispers details that send a shiver down your back, even if it isn’t Halloween.

Open almost every day of the year, Eastern State Penitentiary is a fortress of discovery that will leave you wondering ‘how soon can we come back?’    -Bev Volpe