Elderhostel Philadelphia Day of Discovery
Women's Prison, or Mansions, Historic Events, Communities, Museums
Sep 16, 2008
New "Day of Discovery" programs by Exploritas (formerly Elderhostel) take seniors on brief but illuminating visits to historic sites such as Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, with experts offering added insight via lectures and unusual explorations.
The “women in prison” program in Philadelphia is available two additional Mondays - September 22 and 29.
The historic site's Education Director, Andrea Reidell, brings a scholar's perspective to the female prison population in the 19th and early 20th century. Also expected at the next two visits is the noted feminist scholar Judith Scheffler, author of a book of women’s prison writings.
"Stories of women had remained hidden," Reidell told the first September tour. The huge penitentiary, surrounded by stone and brick walls, was opened in 1829. It began admitting women two years later. The emphasis was on the Quaker notion of true "penitence" for criminals through the silent treatment, an early version of solitary confinement, she said as the group explored the gothic-castle-like cellblocks, which released the last inmates in 1970.
Reidell explained that when the prison was first constructed, it was located in farmland outside Philadelpha. It had its own stock and raised its own crops. Now, with the city considerably expanded, Eastern State is right in the middle of a Philadelphia neighborhood.
The penitentiary's dark, dank, spartan cells once held bank robber Willie Sutton and mob leader Al Capone, among others. But the Elderhostel discussion centered on women, who were incarcerated for such crimes as larceny and murder. The tour ended with a luncheon at nearby Rembrandt's restaurant, where a former female prison employee spoke about her experiences during an escape attempt some years ago.
Upcoming Day of Discovery Events
"Devil In the White City" visit to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry (3 dates October and November)
Arab culture, history and Art in the US at Dearborn, Michigan's Arab American Museum (2 dates October)
"Cultural Heritage: John Singleton Copley to Winslow Homer" at the Milwaukee Art Museum (3 dates November and December)
Treasures of anthropology from ancient Egypt to the Maya at the San Diego Museum of Man (2 dates September and October)
African American perspectives at the the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, DC (1 date December)
Each Day of Discovery is intended as one-day explorations of the best America's cities and signature communities have to offer, according to Elderhostel literature.
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