Winter Adventure Tours at Eastern State Penitentiary

Nothing says happy holidays like a tour of the country’s eeriest cell blocks. On Monday, December 2nd, Fairmount’s Eastern State Penitentiary is launching its annual Winter Adventure Tours program. Eastern State tour guides are experts on the fascinating site’s 200-year history as the world’s first true penitentiary, a prison designed to reform its inmates. Follow your guide on an hour-long walk through the cell blocks, the prison’s famous central rotunda, and the room that housed Al Capone in 1929 (tour not recommended for children under age seven). Bring your questions and your cameras. It’s a true winter adventure, so wear your coat. However cold it is outside, expect the prison to be ten degrees chillier.

December 2nd, 2013 – March 14th, 2014 at Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Avenue. $14 for adults, $12 for seniors, $10 for kids and students (free for members). Tours offered at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm on weekdays and every hour 10am-4pm on weekends. For more information or to book your tickets in advance, visit http://www.easternstate.org/home. (Closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.)

(Photo by John Van Horn, courtesy Eastern State Penitentiary)