Rutland Prison Camp — Attraction in Rutland

Although much of Rutland Prison Camp no longer remains compared to its hayday, it is still worthwhile to go and take a look at.

In 1903 the General Court established an industrial camp for prisoners to reclaim and improve wasted lands. The Commonwealth purchased 914 acres in Rutland. A dormitory and other buildings were built and upon completion prisoners moved in. The camp contained prisoner dormitories, staff housing, coops, barns, silos, a water tower, even a tuberculosis hospital.

The prisoners were serving sentences for drunkenness and other minor offenses. The prisoners created a working farm of 150 acres. The farm produced potatoes that were shipped to the state prison. The dairy barn housed 60 pure-bred Holsteins, which produced enough milk to send to Worcester. Bringing in a yearly profit of $5,000.00. $11,000 income was brought in from the selling of eggs.

In 1907, a 30 bed hospital has been built for the prisoners who were afflicted with tuberculosis. Due to the fact that the property was on the drainage area of water supply, the Prison Camp and Hospital was abandoned on November 30, 1934. The land and buildings were sold to the Metropolitan District Water...

Went in the winter. We parked at a turn-off on Charnock Hill Rd and walked in. The snowmobilers were polite and cautious of us as we walked toward the site of the former Prison and because of the snowmobilers, the snow was packed down enough that the walking wasn't terribly difficult. The site itself is a really fun place to take your camera and play around. There is a tunnel, a building that looks like it was a cell block, and something that looks like it was a stable. The stable was covered in swastikas and made me feel icky, but the rest of the area was a really fun outing! And I'm sure that the hateful graffiti has been covered...

This is a very interesting and unique place. It features an abandoned tunnel and two abandoned buildings. One of those buildings is actually kind of like a tunnel as well. There's a bunch of graffiti on these buildings and you can drive up to them. They were used in the early 1900s to hold inmates that spent their days farming and creating the nearby watershed. It's a super cool place, I definitely recommend it to anybody that likes abandoned or forgotten places. If your brave, it...