There are the remains of a big barn built in the late 1700s. This barn belonged to the Townsend family. They used it for many years. But when Evan Townsend died, the family sold the land to the City of Philadelphia in 1831.
However, the city didn’t use the barn like the Townsends did. Instead, the City of Philadelphia turned it into a place where prisoners worked. Prisoners grew crops there, mostly to feed other prisoners. Along with the barn were two greenhouses, a pump house, and an office. It is unclear whether the prisoners were from Holmesburg Prison, Eastern State Penitentiary, or both.
From inside the former bank barn, turned prison farm.Photo byKathleen Butler
The pumphouse: near where the greenhouses were once located.Photo byKathleen Butler
For many years, the prison farm kept running. But in 1968, it closed for good. Even though the prison farm closed, the remains of the crumbling ruins are eerie echoes of this history.
If you’d like to watch the video of the explore: