Scout Days

Eastern State Penitentiary is hosting Scout Days on Saturday, November 14, 2026, a full day of programming for youth aged 7 to 18. It's open to Scouting America and Girl Scouts of the USA, and the site staff lead the whole thing. The day is built around interactive discussions and activity stations: a prison-architecture matching game, a geology activity about the materials used to build the place, and a Lego contest to build a replica of the penitentiary.

Between the activities, the kids walk through the site's 142-year history and the stories of the 86,000 people who lived and worked inside its walls. They also talk through the ethical issues that complicate the role of prison architecture—the way a building's design can shape how people are treated inside it. For Scouts, the sessions help meet badge requirements like the Architecture Merit Badge and the STEM Career Exploration Badge, though some requirements still need to be finished independently.

It helps to have a sense of the place. Eastern State is considered the world's first true penitentiary, and its radial design served as a model for more than 300 prisons across the globe. Now a National Historic Landmark and a criminal justice museum, its massive stone walls and towering cellblocks are its most famous features, and the staff work to balance conservation and preservation with an interpretation of prison reform. The site is at 2027 Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia.

On the day, there are timed entry windows from 10 AM to 3 PM, the program wraps up by 4:30 PM, and the site closes at 5 PM. If you can't make the in-person date, there was also a virtual session on March 15 via Zoom.