PHILADELPHIA'S HISTORICAL SITES -- EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY

The exterior of Eastern State Penitentiary

Hello, friends!  You might be wondering why I am telling you about Eastern State Penitentiary today.  But this is Halloween week and this place is a big part of Halloween in Philadelphia.  Let me tell you a little bit about the history of ESP.

The Penitentiary opened on October 25, 1829 and is thought to be the world's first true penitentiary.  It had a revolutionary system of incarceration called the "Pennsylvania System."  It encouraged solitary confinement as a means of rehabilitation. Notorious criminals such as Al Capone were housed here. The warden was legally required to visit every prisoner at least once a day and the overseers had to legally see them at least three times a day.

The doors were metal and covered with a wooden door to filter out sound.  The hallways were built to look like a church.  Some people believe that the doors were small to make it harder for the prisoner to get out and attack the guards.  Others think the doors were small to force the prisoners to bow when entering or leaving.  At any rate, the design was linked to penance and was tied to the religious inspiration of the prison.  The cells were made of concrete with a single glass skylight known as the "Eye of God" suggesting to the prisoners that God was always watching them.



The original design of the building was for seven one story cell blocks but by the time three were completed they were already overcrowded.  So the remaining four were two story cell blocks as seen above.  Cell blocks 14 and 15 were quickly built by prisoners because of the severe overcrowding.  Cell block 15 was for the worst behaved prisoners.

A typical cell

On April 3, 1945 there was a major escape by 12 inmates who over the course of a year had managed to dig an undiscovered 97 foot tunnel under the prison wall.  During a renovation in the 1930s another 30 incomplete tunnels were discovered.

It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

The prison closed in 1971.  The city purchased the property with the intention of redeveloping it.  There were several ideas of what to do with the property including a mall and a luxury apartment building.  While the debate was going on the abandoned property became a "forest" with lots of trees growing in it and a lot of abandoned cats made their home there.

In 1988 the Eastern State Penitentiary Task Force was able to petition the mayor to allow them to halt the redevelopment plans and in 1994 the site was opened to the public for tours.

Why am I telling you about this place?  Because every October Eastern State Penitentiary opens to the public for their famous "Terror Behind the Walls."  This is an annual Haunted House Halloween event.  The first one took place in 1991 and included short theatrical performances and true stories of prison murder and violence.  In 1995 the title "Terror Behind the Walls" was given to it and became a startling and low gore walk through event.

In 2001 it was broken up into three smaller events including the first 3-D Haunted House in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  In 2014 six new exhibits were opened and in 2017 the Haunted Blood Yard was added.

Lots of good stuff in Philly.  Thought you would like hearing about this one.

Hope you have a good night.  No nightmares now.

Kathy

THE FARM AND A TRIP TO PENNSBURY MANOR

A busy day today.   It began with a trip to the farm.  I got a lot!

2 lbs. of red potatoes
4 peaches
2 lbs. of tomatoes
bunch of parsley
4 squash (8 ball and Cousa)
organic Spring Mix
1 baby watermelon
2 red peppers
3 cucumbers
1 dozen eggs
1/2 lb. baby Swiss cheese

Joe had a tomato, swiss and lettuce sandwich for lunch and said it was wonderful.

This afternoon Joe and I met my friend Carole and her family (including her cousin Lisa who she is staying with ) and we went to Pennsbury Manor.  Carole used to be one of my Sunday School students when she was a teenager and is the daughter of my former pastor.  She lives in Kentucky now, but is here with her three daughters visiting her family.  I haven't seen her in 10 years, so this was a wonderful treat.

We got there rather late and missed the last tour.  But we were able to walk around and since I have been there 7 times before, I was able to be the tour guide for everyone.  Mostly we saw animals, birds and insects.  It was more like a nature tour than anything else.


Here's a few of the better pictures.  We saw a little bunny in the vegetable garden.

I was trying to get another shot when he hopped away.  Rabbits are fast!

There was a dragonfly on one of the bushes.  We took a lot of pictures of it.  This was the best one.

Here's one of Joe and I.

Carole's girls were fascinated by this big chair.  This is Sami and Emily.

And little Lily.

We found a bush with tons of butterflies on it.

There was a barn with a goose in it.  A mean goose who chased us out of the building.

Outside was a peacock.  Even though he had shed his feathers last week, he was still magnificent.

This view toward the river was so beautiful.

We saw the oxen and the horse from a distance, but couldn't figure out how to get close to them.

We had a beautiful day.  Next time I have to get Joe there in time to take the tour.

SISTERS' WEEK -- DAY 6 (FRIDAY)

We got up fairly early this morning and Elaine made us breakfast.  Then we tried to decide what we were going to do.  We knew we wanted to go to the Craftsman Farms, but that didn't open till noon.  So we decided to go to the Ledgewood Mall first since that was on the way to the farm.

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I needed new shoes for work and I found them at Payless Shoes there.  I have a Payless a few blocks from my house, but I can never find what I want.  I always find them in North Jersey.  Go figure.  We visited a few other stores and I got a couple of Christmas gifts.  I always start my Christmas shopping this week.  Then it was time to head for Craftsman Farms.

 

This is the 1911 home of Gustav Stickley, one of the patriarchs of the American Arts and Crafts Movement.

The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms is the living laboratory of visionary industrialist Gustav Stickley, whose furniture designs (sometimes called "mission"), home designs, and publication of The Craftsman magazine influenced the way Americans looked at decorative arts and architecture at the turn of the last century.

We were allowed to take pictures outside, but not inside.  The rooms were incredible.  If you want to see them, they are on the website.  Click here to see.  Gustav Stickley furnished his home with furniture and accessories designed and crafted not only by his own firm, but by some of the leading craft shops of the early twentieth century.

Stickley had very strong ideas of how things should be.  And NO ONE could talk to or reason with him once his mind was made up.  Even when his business manager told him he needed to change the way he did things or he would go bankrupt he wouldn't listen.  And so he went bankrupt.  But he also had ideas that were way ahead of their time.  What an interesting man.  I didn't know much about him before this visit and now I want to get a biography and read about him.

Stickley electrified his home.  This was unusual in 1911.  But he didn't believe in central heat.  Huh????  So he has huge fireplaces in each room (the downstairs sitting room has two -- one each end) with brass hoods over them.  The brass would heat up and cast the heat into the room.  There are holes with brass covers in the inside stone fireplaces.  As you can see here he also cut holes in the chimney outside.  This would let in the fresh air.  I'm not exactly sure why.  I think it made the fire burn brighter and gave fresh air to the room.  Each brass hood had a quote engraved on it that was intended to make you introspective.  All the furniture was made in his factory or was made by someone of his day with the same leanings.  Even the piano was made in his factory.

Stickley had over 600 acres of land.  There are 31 acres left that were not sold off to developers for malls and housing.  These stone pilars are planters that were in his garden.  He had orchards and a vegetable garden surrounded by hedges and flowers.  Strange.

After the tour we wandered around taking pictures.  Here is Elaine sitting on the stone bench in front of the house.

And here I am in front of one of the many unusual trees.

Many of the trees were twisted into interesting shapes.

And very tall trees.

All in all it was very interesting and I'm really glad I got a chance to see it.

After we left, we went home and changed and then went to the Jefferson Diner for dinner.  We had been wanting to go there for awhile.

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It was featured on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri.  It is across the street from where my sister works, just about 10 minutes from her house.

She had Moussaka and I had Chicken Francaise.  We both had cream of butternut squash soup.  Let me tell you, it was the best food I have ever eaten.  And I mean EVER.  And the portions were huge.  We ended up taking half of it home and having the leftovers last night.

So it turned out to be a busy, but wonderful day.

Next stop on our itinerary is Chester, NJ.

PENNSBURY MANOR -- PART 2

Here's the conclusion of my trip to Pennsbury Manor.  I want to note that although the furnishings are authentic 300 year old pieces, they did not necessarily belong to the Penn family.  Apparently Penn's sons were not interested in the estate, sold off things and let it fall into ruin.

This is a portrait of William Penn's father.  It's hanging in the upper hall.

 This is William and Hannah's bedroom.   The box on the bed is a laptop writing desk.  (The guide called it the first laptop computer.  Ha, ha.)  Penn suffered from gout and many days could not get out of bed, so he worked on the commonwealth's business here.

This is his adult daughter Letitia's bedroom.  It was very pretty and feminine.

Here's the Great Hall.  The servants and slaves sat on benches at this table to eat.  When the Penns had company, they would pull the chairs up to the table and eat here.

This is a portrait of Queen Katherine, the wife of King Charles II.  The pewter charger on the left hand side is known to definitely belong to William Penn.  His initials are on it.

The red chest was where Hannah Penn kept her linens (tablecloth, napkins, etc.)  In the back you can see a linen press.  There were no irons, so this is how they got the tablecloths smooth and the creases just so.  The portrait on the wall is of Charles II.  We were moving right along and I didn't have time to take a picture of it.

 In a hallway between the Great Hall and a back room there were two little storage rooms.  This was the one on the right.

 And this was the one on the left.

 In the back room Hannah made medicines.  Apparently it was the job of the "lady of the house" to make sure all the tenants were healthy.

 In the bakehouse this lady is making something over the fire.  Can you guess what it is?

 Soap!  Which is pretty funny because we found out that they only bathed twice a year -- spring and fall -- and washed their clothes only three times a year -- spring, summer and fall.  Guess that's why there isn't very much soap being made.

In the cooking part of the building they were making bread and stew.  The fire was very hot.  I would not want to cook in a fireplace in the middle of summer.

These people were making a lemon cake and almond macaroons.  I was able to talk with the lady at length about 17th century cooking.  It seems they ate only one large meal a day between 2 and 4 p.m.  Their breakfast was whatever was left over from the night before.  Because there was no refrigeration all the food had to be consumed quickly so it wouldn't spoil.

When I saw this large cask I thought perhaps this was the laundry room.  But no, they didn't wash, remember?  This was the brewery.  They made beer.  Lots and lots of beer.  Every person drank about 5 quarts of beer a day.  The gentry drank the most potent, the servants the next, and the slaves and children the least potent.  Carole and I were guessing that because they didn't eat a lot, the beer kept their stomachs full.

Once outside we saw a peacock.

We saw some oxen and an Arabian horse.  The guide said they don't know if Penn owned Arabians, but he had white horses, so this is the representative white horse.

I don't think I've ever seen oxen before.

There were some sheep too.

There is a beehive in the herb garden.  Since they grew all their own fruits, vegetables and herbs it was a great way to pollinate their plants.  And they got honey besides.

Penn had his own barge which he kept in a boathouse.  I thought it was interesting that it was built in Southwest Harbor, Maine where my brothers and sister and her family live.  They used to work for a company that built yachts.  I will have ask them if this is the company they used to work for.

And here's Penn's barge.

 It was a great day.  It was windy and got cold toward the end of the tour so we were happy to get back into the car.  Since Joe has never been there hopefully I can take him with me next time.