Old Lincoln County Jail - 1811

Old Lincoln County Jail - 1811. Wiscasset, Maine. , The 1811 Lincoln County jail was built to replace an older wooden jail. The new jail was built in the modern style, with individual cells, but the number of prisoners frequently exceeded the twelve cells., Debt, infidelity, children's misbehavior, not attending church and women deemed to be scolds were all punishable by jail. Miscreants and unfortunates were housed alongside murderers and rapists. Women and the insane were housed on the third floor., The jail also housed foreign prisoners during the War of 18 12. One prisoner, probably a sailor, drew a fully-rigged clipper ship on the wall of his cell. Others drew a figure of a soldier and wrote a fragment of a poem in beautiful penmanship., A new jailer was appointed each time a new sheriff was elected. The brick house for the jailer's family physically adjoined the jail from the inside. Pity the jailer's wife who had to cook and clean for the prisoners as well as her own family! , This jail was in use from 1811 to 1953. It is now a museum of the Lincoln County Historical Association, open seasonally to the public.