Explore the prisoners' cells with original graffiti on the walls.

Visit the Jailor's House containing early 19th century room settings and a shed full of antique tools.

View changing exhibits.

Hours:  June-Sept., Sat. 10-4, Sun 12-4, July-Labor Day, T-S 10-4, Sun 12-4, Closed Mon.

Rates:  Adults $3, Seniors (62+) $2.50, AAA $2.50, Children 7-17 $2, Fam. Max. $8

For Information:  (207) 882-6817

History of the Jail: The first Lincoln County jail was authorized by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace as the first item of business at its first meeting on May 12, 1761. It was erected along side the north palisade of Fort Shirley and was completed in September in that year some months ahead of the court house itself which was not finished until November.

At the May Term 1761 it was "Voted and ordered that there be forthwith built a Goal for the use of his Majesty at the Cost and Charge of the County of Lincoln upon the northerly side of the Northwesterly Flanker at Frankfort.

At the September Term of the same year it was "Voted and ordered that the building erected by order of this Court be appropriated to his Majesty's use as a Goal for the County of Lincoln, and that the same is hereby constituted and declared to be the Common Goal of the said County."

It was voted at the same session "that there be forthwith built a convenient yard round his Majesty's Goal and that Samuel Goodwin and Jonathan Bowman Esqs be a Committee to cause the same to be built as they shall judge most convenient and proper."

It should be noted that the easternmost blockhouse of old Fort Shirley was almost certainly also used as a jail of Lincoln County. On April 13, 1761 the Kennebec Proprietors met to consider a request from the "Judges and Justices" of Lincoln County that the Proprietors provide "a convenient place where the Courts might be held within the parade ground of Fort Shirley." In their response the porprietors agreed not only to build a court house at Fort Shirley but also, "Voted that the easternmost blockhouse of said Fort Shirley with the land on which it stands be appropriated as a Goal for the use of said County of Lincoln also the easterly part of the barracks in which Major Samuel Goodwin now lives be appropriated as a House for the Goal Keeper."

It is not known how the Court of General Sessions responded to the Proprietors' offer of the blockhouse but it must have been in the negative since the Court ordered the construction of a jail on May 12th only a month after the Proprietors' proposal was made. However the easterly part of the barracks which had been the home of Samuel Goodwin was accepted as a dwelling for his son Samuel Goodwin Jr. the new Keeper of the jail.

There can be little doubt that by 1769 - and perhaps as much as two years earlier -- the blockhouse was being used as the Lincoln County jail despite the fact that there is no record of its acceptance as "the Common Goal of Lincoln County."

The original jail built in 1761 was never "discontinued as a Goal of Lincoln County" nor was the easternmost blockhouse ever "appropriated to his Majesty's use as a Goal for the County of Lincoln" and "constituted and declared to be the Common Goal of said County."

Treatment of Prisoners: Very little has come down to us by way of a descripition of the conditions within the Lincoln County jail at Fort Shirley or of the treatment accorded the prisoners who were held there. From what we know of jail conditions of the period and of the statutes covering the adminstration of prisoners we must assume that most prisoners essentially cared for themselves.