Happy St Patrick's Day! I celebrated the Wearing of the Green by participating in a St Patty's Day parade on Saturday with the Girl Scout choir. It's a nice little parade that we have participated in for many years in our local Irish community We march through their neighborhood and downtown. Although this year they changed the route and we walked around the large downtown park. The weather was not so bad-not raining or snowing or sleeting. But very windy. It made it difficult to hold our banner. And it was a bit chilly, so I think the parade was moving rather quickly! Hard to keep up and sing at the same time. Our group was not too big-about 12 of us total. But it was fun and I always enjoy seeing the other parade participants. However, they put our group right behind the founders of the Irish town and they brought a huge bell that the family forged. And they were busy ringing it on their float and it was unbelievably loud! So we tried to stay back as far as we could.
In the evening, Tom was able to purchase a 4 pack of Family tickets to the Hershey Bears Hockey game online. It included a hot dog, drink and popcorn besides the seats for the game. So we picked up our friend John and Tom, Allison and I all headed up to Hershey to catch the game. We arrived early so we stopped in to visit Chocolate World(of course!). The game was a lot of fun, and the Bears won by a landslide!
We also learned that our friend John is interviewing with a job back with Northrop, but this time in Dayton, Ohio. John is actually excited about the possibility since he could finally afford a house and large yard! John moved to Maryland from his home state of California a few years after Tom and I moved with Northrop. Tom and John worked together at Northrop for many years when Tom first started in California. John moved in with us after relocating from California as well to work with Northrop here in Maryland. However, after a few years he was laid off and has had several jobs since. He bought his own condo, but was always wishing he could have a house of his own. Just a little too expensive for him on his own here in the Baltimore area. So
On Sunday, St Patrick's Day officially, I could not convince my family to eat any corned beef or cabbage. So instead I cooked a pork roast in the crock pot and bought myself a corned beef and kraut sandwich for lunch from the boy scouts at church. The church troop had a grilling fundraiser going after mass, so Tom got Brisket and Allison had pulled pork, beans and mac n cheese. Everyone was happy. And I cooked my pork roast in beer and it was very tasty! I even had Mom Bozyk over for dinner that night while we watched movies.
Sunday morning I was up early to drop Cookie off to the pet store for her Spring grooming. She was turning into a big, ball of fur. Time for a trim. She looks great!
Allison and I enjoyed an outing together on Thursday. We both went in to work on Friday to make up for the day, but it was worth it. We decided to travel with our County Parks and Rec service to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly. Naturally the building is supposed to be haunted. But this was not a ghost tour. They do turn the place into a huge haunted house at Halloween. It's on the bucket list. But for now we were just interested in the history of the place. Our friends have visited the facility and done the Haunted House tour, so I have had it in mind. And here was an opportunity. So Allison and I took the bus trip for the 2.5 hr drive to Philly. Our group had our own tour set up for one hour. We ate a quick lunch before heading in. The building was made to look like an imposing castle-not a friendly place-erected in the 1800s. It was the first fully functioning prison with running water and heat. At the time, the White House was still relying on fireplaces for heat and the President utilized a chamber pot for his toilet! Later they added electricity. The building was designed for penitence-for the prisoners to sit in their cells and think about their crimes. They accepted men, women and children. The youngest was a 14 year old girl imprisoned for lighting fires. Her name was Mary Ash!
The design was quite amazing. A large castle wall surrounding a wagon wheel building with 6 spokes. It housed 250 state prisoners, but quickly rose to over 100, 000. So they added spokes to the walls and bunk beds! Originally each prisoner had their own cell and a small door leading to the yard outside for some exercise. They did have time together for activities like handball and bocce ball. Meals were delivered to each cell. No one was allowed to speak, Ever. It was solitary confinement. Although they lightened up a bit in later years. I would never have survived. If you talked you were punished.
The prison housed "Scarface" Al Capone for 1 year in a fancy cell with his own furniture at the front of the prison. He was visiting Philadelphia from Chicago for a mobster meeting and his train was delayed for the ride back to Illinois. Instead, he stopped into a movie theater while waiting and was arrested for concealing a weapon. He served 1 year before he was transferred to Alcatraz for racketeering. He died of neurosiphyillis. He could have been cured with an injection at the Philly Penitentiary, but he was deathly afraid of needles!
Since we went on a tour, we were able to access some areas off limits to those on the audio tour. We visited the medical unit complete with surgery facilities, Psyche treatment, Hydrotherapy and Physical Therapy. Most prisoners were infected with tuberculosis but got terrific medical treatment. Prisoners even volunteered skin graphs to help a local girl burned in a house fire in the city.
After the tour, we had time on our own to explore. We stopped by the cell where one famous prisoner, Slick Willie Sutton escaped through a tunnel dug under the wall. Only to be caught immediately when he popped up in the neighborhood. I was amazed to see the prison so close to downtown, smack in the middle of a neighborhood. But when it was originally built it was out on a hill in a cherry orchard. We also explored the prison's Jewish temple. Some parts of the prison have not yet been restored-about half of the campus.
The early prison systems, such as the facilities they had in London in the 1800s used to just put everyone together in one room-thieves and murderers-and just let them have at it. This was supposed to rehabilitate the criminals. Charles Dickens himself came over from England to tour the facility and did not think much about the program. He wrote about it and also had time to meet with Edgar Allen Poe for dinner and conversation, who at the time lived just down the street from the prison.
Overall a very fascinating place and Allison and I enjoyed our day out. It was sunny and a bit chilly, but even colder inside the prison with its stone walls. It was built like a wagon wheel with a center hub that allowed the guards to see up and down the cell blocks from one location. And the acoustics were amazing-you can hear a whisper with the large arched ceilings. Although most of the facility is falling apart. And nature is slowly taking over. There were large tree roots in some of the cells. The facility was finally shut down in 1971! And most everything was left as is. They are slowly restoring the building.
After our tour, we all headed to a local coffee shop for a snack and then the drive home. We will definitely have to consider the Halloween tour! And that evening Allison and I watched Utube videos on the ghost investigations of the prison.
Glad the weather was warming up a bit more. Allison started up with her Northrop Frisbee Team practices again during the week. Nice to be outside with weather finally warming up a bit and snow turning to rain.
