Castleton Jail
Encyclopedia
The Castleton Jail is an exhibit building located at the Shelburne Museum
in Shelburne, Vermont
. Constructed entirely of slate, it was originally built in 1890 in Castleton, Vermont, where it operated for over fifty years.
that stretched from the state’s western edge to New York’s eastern borders. These massive deposits gave birth to a healthy mining industry that still extracts the grey, sea green, and red material.
The nature of slate
, with its geologically formed horizontal bedding, causes it to fracture along flat lines, and, unlike granite
and marble
, slate cannot be undercut or sculpted. Consequently its use as an art material has been minimal. Despite these limitations, the architect of the Castleton Jail took advantage of the planar formation of slate in constructing the jail, layering pieces of slate horizontally to form the exterior walls, and floors. The dark interior consists of two cells and a jailor’s compartment with only a single window to admit light and air. A riveted iron door completes this impregnable structure.
purchased the fifty-ton jail from the town of Castleton for one dollar per ton
. Only the roof and gable ends were removed for the journey of 64 miles (103 km) to Shelburne. Special dollies with twenty-four rubber-tired wheels were built to carry the basic structure and demanded additional steering apparatuses and four sets of brakes to maintain control on steep hills. The move, aided by the Vermont State Police, required three days at speeds varying from up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h). The most difficult obstacle was the Vergennes underpass of the Rutland Railroad, where the clearance was only five inches.
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
in Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne, Vermont
Shelburne is a town in southwestern Chittenden County, Vermont, United States, along the shores of Lake Champlain. The population was 7,144 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. Constructed entirely of slate, it was originally built in 1890 in Castleton, Vermont, where it operated for over fifty years.
Castleton
Castleton was chartered in 1761. The charter for 36 square miles (93.2 km²) of land was granted by Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire and divided the land into 70 "rights" or "shares". Three families had settled in Castleton by 1770. More settlers followed and by 1777 the town consisted of 17 families. Vermont attained statehood in 1791 and Castleton continued to grow as an agricultural community. Farmers raised cattle, then turned for a while to sheep. Apple orchards abounded. Saw mills and gristmills were the first industries to be established in town. During the middle of the nineteenth century the slate and marble industries began to thrive in and around Castleton. The railroad came in 1854, and the last half of the century saw the development of tourism around Lake Bomoseen. For more see Castleton, VermontCastleton, Vermont
Castleton is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. Castleton is about to the west of Rutland, and about east of the New York/Vermont state border. The town had a population of 4,717 at the 2010 census. Castleton State College is located there, with roots dating to 1787...
Construction
The jail building’s unusual composition reflects the richness of Vermont’s geological deposits. In the early 19th century, Vermonters discovered beds of slateSlate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
that stretched from the state’s western edge to New York’s eastern borders. These massive deposits gave birth to a healthy mining industry that still extracts the grey, sea green, and red material.
The nature of slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
, with its geologically formed horizontal bedding, causes it to fracture along flat lines, and, unlike granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, slate cannot be undercut or sculpted. Consequently its use as an art material has been minimal. Despite these limitations, the architect of the Castleton Jail took advantage of the planar formation of slate in constructing the jail, layering pieces of slate horizontally to form the exterior walls, and floors. The dark interior consists of two cells and a jailor’s compartment with only a single window to admit light and air. A riveted iron door completes this impregnable structure.
History
In 1953, Shelburne MuseumShelburne Museum
Shelburne Museum is a museum of art and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds...
purchased the fifty-ton jail from the town of Castleton for one dollar per ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
. Only the roof and gable ends were removed for the journey of 64 miles (103 km) to Shelburne. Special dollies with twenty-four rubber-tired wheels were built to carry the basic structure and demanded additional steering apparatuses and four sets of brakes to maintain control on steep hills. The move, aided by the Vermont State Police, required three days at speeds varying from up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h). The most difficult obstacle was the Vergennes underpass of the Rutland Railroad, where the clearance was only five inches.