Prison Camp

On Monday, May 23, Joseph and I went out for his first official hike for the new leaderboard. We clocked in about 3.75 miles exploring at the Prison Camp in Rutland. This is a trip that I would love to park at Barre Falls Dam and hike down and back for a round trip total of about eight miles. Driving down is about twenty-two miles roundtrip. To me, it makes more sense to turn it into a nice day hike.

Joseph forced to wear his 100-mile shirt.

Somehow we managed to find a Hunger Games arena. Except I don't recall they let you know you were being watched; they just did it.

Burn calories, not fuel. Anyway, we'd been there once before and it's just as cool now as it was then but maybe even more so because we discovered and explored the hospital and the supervisors house this time. Last time we were confined to the cell block, tunnel behind it, and root cellar. Sometime when it is less buggy, I'd like to go back (maybe do the BFD-PC hike) and do more exploring.

Trees growing where there once was a hospital.

A few trails but they certainly don't circumnavigate the entire hospital. Somehow the partying people manage.

Lots of history to the land here.
From what I can tell by the maps I've looked at, it was either some faction of the Wampanoag or Mohegan or some combination that lived in the area pre-European colonization. I sometimes think it's hilarious that we go off on such tangents about saving all this history and get to the point we can't touch anything when the peoples who lived prehistorically changed the landscape and each

This is what is left from a much larger complex including yard, dining area, etc.

Trees are where the supervisors house once stood.

successive people did the same. What did it look like originally? I mean, the mountains are tired here. They've been around for a very long time. Just imagine.
I love to imagine.

The view walking from the road to the house ruins.

Standing in a little alcove of the foundation.

Fast forward to 1903 when the General Court (I'm guessing Massachusetts since that is where Rutland is) established a camp for prisoners. They would reclaim and improve "wasted" lands. How did they become wasted I would like to know.

Sidewalk leading to the house.

An old orchard to the north of the hospital.

Many buildings were built (they surely didn't just appear, for sure) and prisoners serving time for minor offenses such as drunkenness moved in. They somehow found the motivation to create a working farm of 150 acres. I bet they really didn't have a choice. At least not at first. Well, you know, they HAD a choice but it was probably something like: "Go weed the potatoes or you get solitary confinement." Choice. Those potatoes? They got shipped to the state prison. Groovy, dude.

We heard this guy moving around and were glad he (or she) was a porcupine and not something else (you know, like a bear cub or a skunk).

There was a dairy barn that seems to have been home to 60 Holsteins. Between milk being sold in Worcester and selling eggs (I'm guessing from chickens although it doesn't specify) the prison had a yearly income of around $16,000. That's not too shabby.
In 1907, a 30 bed hospital had been built. Tuberculosis was a big deal and prisoners who contracted it got to stay at this new hospital. Lucky prisoners. The foundation isn't huge but it is quite interesting. It's fun to imagine what it looked like back then.

The root cellar.

For some reason, the people in Boston and Worcester like to drink water. At least, I'm guessing they do because so much of the water in this state is part of a drainage area for some water supply and as such has to be protected. Such was the case for the Prison Camp and Hospital. They were abandoned on November 30, 1934.

The root cellar looking out.

If you talk to the guys at Nestle, they'll tell you that water isn't one of our rights so we should be able to do whatever the heck we want in these drainage areas. Right?

Just the view from where we parked by the cell block.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun exploring. If you come visit us before we leave (which will be who knows when), we'll take you there.