Special Guided Tours

Special guide-led tours are available several times a day, every day April-November. These tours are hands-on, interactive experiences, designed for visitors age seven and up. The tours last about thirty minutes, and are meant to supplement the “Voices of Eastern State” Audio Tour. Tours are limited to thirty people, first come, first served. Reservations are not accepted. All tours and exhibits are included in the single admission fee.

Left Behind
Tue, Thur, Sat & Sun at 3:15 pm
Hands-on presentation! Handle reproductions of everyday objects, photographs, and inmate crafts that survive from Eastern State's years as an active prison. What does each tell us about the lives of the prisons and guards?

Escape!
Mon, Wed & Fri at 2:15 pm
Sat & Sun at 10:15 am and 1:15 pm
More than one hundred men escaped from Eastern State during its 142 history. But how? A tour guide describes three escapes in detail, illustrating how they changed over time at the penitentiary.

Life Behind the Walls
Mon, Wed & Fri at 3:15 pm
Sat & Sun at 2:15 pm
More than 75,000 men and women once served time behind these walls. What was life like? A tour guide compares the lives of inmates and officers during the prison's long history.

Prison Uprisings
Tue & Thur at 2:15 pm
Sat & Sun at 11:15 am & 4:15 pm
Inmates gathered to protest conditions they felt were unfair nearly a dozen times during Eastern State's history. A tour guide leads the group to the locations of the 1961 riot and other inmate uprisings.