OLDEST - Jail in the United States - Old York Gaol - York, ME
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 43° 08.631 W 070° 39.095
19T E 365695 N 4778113
Built in 1719, partially from materials from the former jail dating from 1656, the Old York Gaol claims to be the oldest jail in the United States. It served as a jail at least until about 1860, and was restored as a museum in 1900.
Waymark Code: WME2TC
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 03/26/2012
Views: 5
The old barn like building still sits on a hill in the center of York, Maine, with the interior restored with artifacts and operated as a museum by the York Historical Society. There are several modern war memorials at the base of the hill and an old cannon, probably of the Civil War era. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 1968.
From the York Historical Society:
Legislation for the establishment of a royal prison for the Province of Maine was enacted in 1653, and after some delay a building for this purpose was erected at Meetinghouse Creek in the village of York in 1656. The present Gaol was built in 1719 with timbers salvaged from the original structure. With the influx of settlers into Maine in the mid-18th century, the building was enlarged to provide more space for the housing of prisoners, as well as improving accommodations for the gaoler's family. The humanitarian drive to better prison conditions for debtors following the Revolution resulted in the addition of a large debtor's cell in the 1790s, giving the building its present shape.
Aside from its cells and dungeons for felons and debtors, the Old Gaol housed the gaolkeeper and his family. During the first part of the 18th century quarters for both prisoners and gaoler were modest--even primitive. All prisoners, regardless of their crimes, shared two dungeon rooms; the turnkey's family had two adjoining rooms, a hall and parlor. Later in the century as more cells, as well as additional space for the gaoler, were added, living conditions improved. Records for its first years have not survived, but those from 1760 indicate that most of the Gaol's prisoners were debtors, although some of the incarcerated were guilty of committing crimes such as slander, petty theft, and becoming drunk. Greater crimes included arson, grand theft and murder and convicted criminals were publicly hanged at Stage Neck. For the lesser crimes, people were placed in the pillory or stocks, or whipped publicly outside the Gaol.
Until 1760 the Gaol was a prison for the entire province of Maine; it then served as a county jail until 1820. For the next forty years it continued to be used for the incarceration of local wrongdoers. The Gaol then served briefly as school, a boarding house, and a warehouse, and by 1895 it stood abandoned and in peril from neglect.