Old Jail
About Old Jail
Barnstable's Old Gaol is a historic colonial jail in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Built c.1690, it is the oldest wooden jail in the United States of America.
The jail was built by order of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony courts. It served as the Barnstable County jail until c.1820, when a new stone jail was built. The structure, which held about six prisoners, was eventually attached to a barn. In 1968 it was rediscovered, separated from the barn, and moved 100 feet (30 m) onto the grounds of the Coast Guard Heritage Museum (located in the old Customshouse building) in Barnstable Village.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and included in the Old King's Highway Historic District in 1987.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Founded
- 1690
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Nearby museums
Make a day of it. 4 more museums are within 2.1 miles of Old Jail; the closest, United States Customshouse, is practically next door.
