Barnstable's Old Gaol is a historic colonial

jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

Barnstable, Massachusetts Barnstable ( ) is a List of municipalities in Massachusetts, town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population ...

. Built 1690, it is the oldest wooden jail in the United States of America. The jail was built by order of the

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

courts. It served as the Barnstable County jail until 1820, when a new stone jail was built. The structure, which held about six prisoners, was eventually attached to a barn. In 1968 it was rediscovered, separated from the barn, and moved onto the grounds of the

Coast Guard Heritage Museum The U.S. Customshouse (now known as the Coast Guard Heritage Museum and the Donald G. Trayser Memorial Museum) is a historic customs house and United States Coast Guard museum on Cobbs Hill in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Built in 1855 to a design ...

(located in the old Customshouse building) in Barnstable Village. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1971, and included in the Old King's Highway Historic District in 1987. In 1716, the jail imprisoned Goody Hallett, the lover of pirate

Samuel Bellamy Captain Samuel Bellamy ( 23 February 1689 – 26 April 1717), erroneously known as "Black Sam" Bellamy, was an English sailor turned pirate during the early 18th century. He is best known as one of the wealthiest pirates in the Golden Age of Pi ...

, later known as the Witch of Wellfleet, as well as the two survivors of Sam Bellamy's flagship '' Whydah Gally'' which wrecked at Wellfleet, and the seven survivors of his consort ship ''Mary Anne'' which wrecked south at Pochet Island. The jail house is considered one of the most haunted in America and is open to ghost tours at certain times of the year. It is believed to be haunted by Goody Hallett, who is said to also haunt th
Expedition Whydah
in Provincetown, as well as Lucifer Land (also called Goody Hallett's Meadow) which is a reference to the area of land at the top of the Wellfleet cliffs.

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Coast Guard Heritage Museum
Buildings and structures completed in 1690 Government buildings completed in the 17th century Defunct prisons in Massachusetts Jails on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Barnstable, Massachusetts Museums in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Prison museums in the United States Jails in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Barnstable, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts 1690 establishments in Plymouth Colony {{Massachusetts-museum-stub

See also

References

External links