I don’t want to repeat what every other website says about the old prison camp, so instead here are the bullet points:
- Built in 1903
- Minor offenders worked the farm
- Labor farm growing potatoes as well as dairy cows and chickens
- Tuberculosis hospital added 1907
- Abandoned in 1934
Apparently, there are several places you can park and hike in. We opted for parking at Whitehall pond, right where Prison Camp Rd terminates at Whitehall Rd, and hiking in via Prison Camp Rd. The road is gated, not sure if that stays closed year-round or not?
It’s a pretty hike, and I don’t remember being on any trails that wouldn’t accommodate a car (or Jeep anyway) — wide and flat, and any elevation gains were not steep nor terribly long.
Our route is in blue in this map. My markers didn’t appear, but if you think of the route as being sort of an inverted triangle, the prison grounds/remains are in the upper right (northeast) corner, and parking the southern tip.
It was clear how low and wet the area is (which is why they shut down the prison, as I understand it) and there are some cool areas like this.
This seems to be the remains of the vegetable storage cellar.
Below the side-by-side photos is a 3D view from inside.
Depending on your browser, etc you should be able to click on it and then use your mouse to drag around and “spin” the picture to view in 360 degrees.
