The door to the prison cell in the Fort Mackinac Guardhouse.

Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island was constructed in 1779 in order to protect the lucrative fur trade in northern Michigan and maintain relations with neighboring Native American tribes. The military importance of the Fort diminished as the nineteenth century progressed, but the Fort took on a new role when the Mackinac National Park was established in 1875. The soldiers continued to train during this time, but their main duties now entailed caring for the Park. In fact, the Fort itself became a tourist destination, and people gathered to watch the military exercises of the soldiers.

The prison cell in the Fort Mackinac Guardhouse.

Since the Fort saw little military activity, the soldiers had lots of extra time on their hands, which naturally led to some of them getting into trouble. Soldiers who committed crimes of drunkenness, petty theft, insubordination, and desertion were thrown into the prison cell in the Guardhouse.

The Black Hole at Fort Mackinac.

Conditions in the Guardhouse prison cell were miserable. The single room was dark, unheated, unventilated, and lacked furnishings. Prisoners had to sleep on the floor and were denied use of the Fort’s state-of-the-art restroom facilities. The rations of the soldiers were also greatly reduced. Once, as many as thirteen prisoners filled the prison cell at one time. Only in the 1880’s were a small window, an air shaft, a coal stove, and a sleeping platform added to improve conditions.

In the 1930’s, workmen discovered “The Black Hole,” which dated back to the beginning of the Fort and had remained hidden beneath the floors of the Guardhouse. The Black Hole consisted merely of a hole in the ground with stone walls and a dirt floor. Little light and air entered it, and in 1800 one prisoner died in its suffocating conditions. The Black Hole served as the prison cell for the Fort until the present guardhouse was constructed in 1828.

In addition to time in the prison cell, soldiers could be whipped with a Cat-O-Nine-Tails in front of assembled troops, forced to perform hard labor in leg irons attached to a ball and chain, and suffer a reduction in pay.

Note: I am always on the lookout for places and events involving early American crime. Please share any that you know about in the Comments or contact me.

If you are vacationing on Cape Cod and want to add some early American crime to your dining experience, visit the Old Jailhouse Tavern in Orleans, MA.

The current restaurant and bar is in the former house of town constable Henry Perry. Early in the nineteenth century, Perry used his spare front bedroom to hold law breakers overnight until they could be transferred the next day to a more secure jail up the Cape. Because the criminal justice system in early America was not fully developed, the houses of local constables often served as holding places for offenders until they could be handled in a more formal manner.

While early American criminals probably did not take pleasure in their stay at the Perry house, I had an enjoyable meal with my family and friends at the Old Jailhouse Tavern last fall. Today, the walls of Perry’s house form the tavern section of the restaurant, which offers a beautiful oak bar. Polished jail cell doors frame the interior entryway to the tavern and heighten the restaurant’s historical association with early crime. The atmosphere is comfortable and casual, and the menu offers typical American and New England fare. They even sell t-shirts with the restaurant’s jail-themed logo on them.

The Old Jailhouse Tavern is located at 28 West Road in Orleans, Cape Cod, Massachusetts off of the Mid Cape Highway/Route 6. It is open year-round for lunch, dinner, late-night snacking, and Sunday Brunch. No reservations are required, although I suggest calling ahead for seating during high tourist times (Phone: 508-255-JAIL).

Note: I am always on the lookout for places and events involving early American crime. Please share any that you know about in the Comments or contact me.

Registration is now open for the Dismas House Prison Break 5K, which will take place on May 22, 2010 at 9 a.m. in Westborough, MA.

The run will start at St. Luke’s Church on 1 Ruggles Street and welcomes both runners and walkers. Registration is $25.00, which includes timing at start and finish, medals and prizes to winners, a unique short sleeve t-shirt, and a post-race party with the sponsors.

Now that the weather finally appears to be turning the corner toward spring, pull out your running shoes and begin training so that you can join me at this event.

Dismas House is located in Worcester, MA and provides transition housing and services to former prisoners. The men and women in the program receive educational, recovery, and reentry tools to help them grow towards the goal of reintegration into society and avoid a return to incarceration.

If the 50-degree climate of the abandoned copper mine doesn’t make you shiver, the thought that these underground tunnels once served as sleeping quarters for convicted criminals will.

The Old New-Gate Prison and Copper Mine, a National Historic Landmark and State Archaeological Preserve in East Granby, CT, provides a fun, educational journey back to early American crime history. Kids and adults alike will have a great time wandering through the ruins of the prison workshop, clamping shackles onto their legs at the whipping post, and peering down the 40-foot mine shaft that once led prisoners to their beds at night and into what they called “Hell.”

Visitors describe the historic site as “creepy” and shudder when they come face-to-face with the seamy elements of criminal punishment. The site of the prison originally supported one of the first commercial mining operations in the British colonies, before the Connecticut General Assembly decided to convert the mine into Connecticut’s first colonial prison in 1773. Today, a long set of stairs takes you down into the mine shafts, where you are free to wander around without a guide and to discover the eerie cavern once reserved for solitary confinement tucked away in the back of the tunnels.

Outside the mine is a spectacular vista of the Farmington Valley, which must have given some convicts incentive to break out. Despite claims when it first opened that the prison was one of the most secure in the American colonies, its first prisoner escaped only 18 days after his initial incarceration up a 67-foot air shaft, which can still be seen today. Prison walls and buildings were later built around the mine to create better security, but they still had trouble keeping convicts from escaping.

If you visit the prison on the last Sunday of the month, you can take a guided tour of Viets Tavern. The unrestored tavern sits directly across the street from the prison and close to one of the few remaining houses purchased from a Sears catalog, which arrived unassembled with directions for construction. Lance Kozikowski, the tour guide, will regale you with stories about the prison and the tavern, like how convicts with enough money could enjoy a pint of beer and a meal with the help of a bribed prison guard. He may even challenge you to a game of skittles, a popular pub game from colonial America that involves spinning a top through a maze and accumulating points as it knocks down wooden pins.

Food is no longer served at the tavern or sold on the premises, so you should bring along a snack for the kids or plan a picnic. Make sure to stop by the gift shop after your visit, where you can purchase a unique array of mementos, such as a set of iron manacles or an early engraving of the prison by Richard Brunton, who served a 2-year prison term at Newgate in 1799 for counterfeiting.

Old New-Gate Prison has long been a source of fascination, going back to when people used to visit the working prison to tour the grounds and gawk at the prisoners. The prison ended operation in 1837 when all of the prisoners were transferred to a new state-of-the-art penitentiary in Wethersfield, CT. The grounds then became a commercial tourist attraction, where visitors could tour the abandoned mine tunnels, be entertained by a bear and her cub, and view antique cars, wax figures, and a WWI tank. Today, the prison allows you and your children to imagine the burglars, horse thieves, and counterfeiters who once inhabited the area and to live–for just a few hours–the life of a convict in colonial America.

Contact Information:
New-Gate Prison and Coppermine
115 Newgate Road
East Granby, CT 06026
860-653-3563
newgate.museum@ct.gov

Official Website:
http://www.ct.gov/cct/cwp/view.asp?a=2127&q=302258

Current Admission Prices:
Adults $5, seniors (60+) and college students with ID $4, children (6-17) $3, children under 6 are free.

Hours:
The museum will be open for the 2009 season from May 1st to Oct 31st. Walk-in visitors are welcome on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between 10am and 4pm. The last admission ticket is sold at 3:30pm.

A tour of Viets Tavern is available on the last Sunday of each month and is included in the admission fee. I highly recommend that you coordinate your visit to coincide with one of these Sundays if you can.

Visiting hours, days open, and admission fees are subject to change, so check the website before visiting.

The Massachusetts Superior Court celebrated its 150th anniversary on June 4, 2009 in Worcester, MA by reenacting the trial of Bathsheba Spooner. Everyone in the packed audience would surely agree that the performance was both entertaining and informative. Seeing real people play the parts of the historical actors in this colonial murder drama helped to humanize a sensational event that involved social attitudes and practices that were different from our own.

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to read Murdered by His Wife:

Don’t forget to visit the Early American Crime Bookshop for more early American crime book suggestions.

If you know of any Early American Crime places or events, please let me know. I’ll be happy to consider covering them on this website.