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Saturday
March 31st, 2007
(first day of the 2007 Season)
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11:30 - 4:30 — Tunnel Escape Living History
Free with admission
Two actors - one portraying tunnel mastermind Clarence Klinedinst and one portraying bank robber "Slick Willie" Sutton - give their conflicting accounts of who designed the tunnel, how it was built, and why the escapees got caught. Meet each inmate in his cell, and see how their accounts vary. Based on actual conflicts in the accounts of Willie Sutton and Clarence Klinedinst.
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Sunday
April 1, 2007
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10:00 a.m. — Reenactment of the 1945 Tunnel Escape
FREE
Actors portray all twelve escaped inmates, and tell the gathered crowd about the dramatic day in 1945 when they fled the penitentiary.
11:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. — Tunnel Escape Living History
Free with Admission
Saturday's Living History program continues all weekend.
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Sunday
April 8, 2007
Closed
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Eastern State Penitentiary is closed. |
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Saturday
April 14th, 2007
11:30 a.m.
Members Only
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Historic Site Members: Free / Members' Guests: $9.00
Many Eastern State Members and visitors have favorite places inside the prison complex. Join members of the Eastern State staff to see some of their favorite places, many of which are not on the public tour route! This is a real insiders look at some of the most interesting places at Eastern State Penitentiary. Limited to current historic site members and their guests only. (Historic Site Members: Free / Members' Guests: $9.00) |
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Sunday
April 29, 2007
2:30 p.m.
Free with Admission
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People are sometimes surprised to find that many of Eastern State's former officers and inmates are still quite young, and enjoy returning to the cellblocks to remember old times. This weekend only, our Alumni - both officers and inmates - answer questions and meet the public. |
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Friday
May 11, 2007
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
FREE
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Eastern State Penitentiary hosts a changing series on artist installations as part of the historic site's exhibits on history and criminal justice. In 2007 there will be nine installations on view during all public hours. Join us for a chance to meet the artists and see the new work! Light refreshments will be served. |
With Linda Brenner’s Ghost Cats installation posed above them, visitors celebrate the 2005 artist installations on the penitentiary’s baseball diamond. |
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May 13 - June 17
Saturdays & Sundays
3:15 p.m.
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More than 75,000 men and women once lived and worked behind Eastern State's massive walls. What was life like for the officers and inmates? An Eastern State tour guide compares the lives of officers and inmates during the prison's long history.
In collaboration with the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's Five Weeks of Family Fun, Eastern State Penitentiary presents a special hands-on family tour - Life Behind the Walls -- for kids age 7 to 12 (and the adults with them). Specially discounted tickets for families are available for this event through tix.com.
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June 8, 9, 10 and 15, 16 and 17
Evenings
Standard Admission: $15.00
Students & Seniors: $10.00
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GATE is an original on site dance project located in several areas in Eastern State Penitentiary. The performance, in the words of Leah Stein, "illuminates, activates, and animates the site as a living and breathing location, full of history, and experience." Sound resonates from a range of locations near and distant. Film is projected onto the textured surfaces of the building. The dancers appear and disappear, integrate into the architecture, and take cues from the physical surroundings. |
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Friday
June 29, 2007
9:00 p.m.
(Doors open at 7:00pm)
Free
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Sunoco Welcome America Movie Night: The Untouchables (1987)
Join us for a free screening of The Untouchables on Eastern State's
baseball diamond! Al Capone ruled Chicago with absolute power. No one
could touch him. No one could stop him. - Until Eliot Ness and a small
force of men swore they'd bring him down. Please note: This film is
rated R by the MPAA for violence and language.
Bring your own lawn chair or blanket, buy some popcorn, and settle in
beneath the big wall for one of the all-time classics prison films.
Free 20 minute "Quick Glance" tours of Eastern State Penitentiary will
be available from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and visitors will even have
the chance to see the "luxurious" cell Capone called home during his
stay at Eastern State in 1929.
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Saturday & Sunday
June 30 & July 1, 2007
Standard Hours & Admission
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Eastern State Penitentiary is a proud cultural and promotional partner for Sunoco Welcome America. Make sure your Welcome America plans include a tour of Eastern State. The Penitentiary will be open standard hours everyday during Sunoco Welcome America. |
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Wednesday
July 4th, 2007
Standard Hours & Admission
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The Penitentiary is open from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern State is located just three blocks from the Ben Franklin Parkway, site of the some of the best fireworks in the nation! So tour the prison, have dinner at one of the great local restaurants, and stay for the fireworks! Happy Independence Day! |
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Saturday
July 14, 2007
5:30 p.m.
Reenactment and Street Party Free
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One of Philadelphia's most popular summertime events! Local businesses team with Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site for a playful reenactment of the Storming of the Bastille (influenced more by Monte Python than the French Revolution), followed by a French-themed street party. Come early and take a tour of Eastern State (standard admission), or stay late and take a 25-minute evening tour following the Reenactment ($5 per person).
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Saturday & Sunday
August 11 and 12, 2007
11:30 a.m.
Free with Admission
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On January 8th, 1961, Eastern State Penitentiary witnessed its most violent and dangerous inmate uprising. Inmates eventually took eight officers hostage, stabbing two of them with homemade knives (both survived), and took control of the prison. They even set the records room on fire in an attempt to erase inmate identities. Join us for a special tour, retracing the sequence of events throughout the prison complex and meeting former inmates who were there. Includes rarely seen photographs from the Eastern State archival collection. |
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Friday
September 7, 2007
8:00 p.m.
(Doors open at 7:00 p.m.)
$8.00
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The Secret Cinema returns to Eastern State with a great vintage prison film projected (not video) inside the cellblocks of Eastern State Penitentiary. Opens with quirky short film introductions. |
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Saturday
September 8, 2007
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Free with Admission
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Eastern State is one of the most photogenic locations in America.
Each member may submit one color and one black and white Eastern State photograph for our 2007 Members' Only photo competition. At 12:30 p.m., the photos will be judged by Jacqueline van Rhyn, curator, Philadelphia Print Center and Tom Berault, Professor of Art, Prince George's Community College and Curator/Director, Marlboro Gallery. The winner will receive a private full day photo shoot at the prison ($500 value), and have their photo published on the Penitentiary website.
Complete information can be found in the 2007 Photo Contest Guidelines.
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September 21 - November 3, 2007
Evenings
Prices Vary
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Terror Behind the Walls presented by Lukoil is the region's premier haunted attraction.
This Massive Haunted House In A Real Prison has been ranked among the Top Ten Haunted
Attractions in the United States by America Online, the Travel Channel and
HauntWorld Magazine. Tickets go on sale Sept. 13, 2007. Check the
Terror Behind the Walls website
for coupons, previews, ticketing and real ghost sightings.
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Saturday
September 29, 2007
Standard Hours
Free to College Students with I.D.
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Special programs and free admission to Eastern State Penitentiary and other local museums for college and high school students. Free shuttle busses will run among participating attractions. |
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Sunday
November 18, 2007
11:30 a.m.
Members Only
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Many visitors are surprised to learn that Eastern State Penitentiary had a complete, state of the art hospital. But it makes sense, of course. By the turn of the century, Eastern State was a small self-contained city unto itself, with 1,500 men and women living in an eleven-acre complex of buildings. Many of these inmates were serving life sentences, and would spend their old age behind these walls. They needed medial care. See areas of the hospital not open to the public, and rare documents and photos from the historic site's collection. Limited to current historic site members and their guests only. (Historic Site Members: Free / Members' Guests - Limit Two: $9.00) |
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Thursday
November 22, 2007
Closed
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Eastern State Penitentiary is closed. |
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Friday
November 30, 2007
Standard Hours & Admission
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Come back for our 2008 season! Groups of 15 or more can schedule group tours, even during the winter. Great for adult, senior, and professional groups. Special interactive history and architecture tours offered for school groups and college classes. |
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