DC Days: Prison View Estates

I have a habit of telling visitors to the museum where I'm a volunteer that the building has had "a lot of lives." Originally built as a Masonic Temple in 1908, the building would eventually be home to movie theatres (both legit and blue), offices, and eventually the only museum in the world dedicated to championing the works of women artists. Depending on the visitor, I might also share some of the history of the building that currently houses our museum shop, but it has to be the right visitor. Some people don't like to talk about sex shops. I usually end the discussion with some comments about the importance of place an the role we play in both preserving and continuing history. This is the kind of conversation that makes me an excellent docent.

I was thinking about this when I visiting the Workhouse Arts Center for a beer festival over the weekend. I've never been to the Workhouse Arts Center before. Until 2001, it was, in fact a prison. Construction began on the Lorton Reformatory (also called the Lorton Correctional Complex and the Occoquan Workhouse) the same year my museum started its life as a Masonic Temple in 1908. The first prisoners would arrive in 1910 and would be responsible for building much of the prison complex over the years. The Workhouse has a random history, originally opened as part of an experiment in open air prisons. The idea was to see if that prison set up would be better for rehabilitating less violent offenders like vagrants, drunks, and "family abusers." The original prison didn't have the brick buildings, but tents and open fields. Female prisoners were sent to the prison starting in 1912, mostly serving sentences for prostitution or disorderly conduct.

In 1917, the prison would become the center of the suffragist movement when many of the "Silent Sentinels" were arrested and held at the Workhouse. These were women like Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, arrested for their silent protests outside of the White House. On the night of November 14, 1917 the women were tortured and beaten in a night known as "the Night of Terror." The women would eventually be released and many sentences would be vacated. President Wilson changed his mind about suffrage not long after these events, moving the passage of the 19th Amendment forward (this is a very simplified version of what happened, but you get the point).

When my family first moved to the area in 1992, I remember driving past Lorton Prison and the neighborhood next door. There was a house on the corner that boasted the following sign:

I thought it was funny and weird in the best way possible. I remember wanting to visit, but not in a "I should get a prison pen pal" sort of way. It was always more like, "one day this probably won't be an active prison and I should come take a tour when they make into a museum" kind of way.

Lorton was decommissioned as a prison in 2001. The property was sold to Fairfax County the next year and is part of the D.C Workhouse (another name) and Reformatory Historic District. When it was decommissioned part of the law stated that the space had to be used for recreation or parkland. The Lorton Arts Foundation sought to use the land and facilities for an arts complex. In 2004, this was finally approved and the Workhouse Arts Center was open in 2008. The complex includes studio and gallery space for artists, open land for festivals and sporting events, and specials events. It's like the larger, weirder sibling to the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. The Lucy Burns Museum is also underway, telling the story of 91 years of prison history.

I've been curious to see what Lorton is like now that it's an arts center. Does it still feel like a prison? Is it weird to have a studio in a space that was probably a cell at one point? Is the kiln the same kiln used to fire the original bricks prisoners used to build the prison? I can't say that I answered any of these questions during my first visit. I attended the 3rd Annual Workhouse Arts Center Brewfest. Drinking beer and spirits from Virginia (and a few neighboring states) breweries and distilleries at a decommissioned prison/arts center seemed like a good way to spend a Saturday. It was a beautiful (hot) day. The festival was fun, the beer was delicious, and I got to taste a whiskey made from George Washington's original recipe.

The buildings have been restored and reconfigured enough in the buildings we visited that they don't look like a prison per se. There's definitely an industrial vibe and the ceilings are low, but it doesn't scream "Cell Block A" or anything. The gallery was well lit and the artist I talked to really liked working in the space and being able to show his work. I wandered into an exhibition about the suffragists and ended up buying a t-shirt from a very kind docent who seemed impressed that I owned a "Jailed for Freedom" pin from the Alice Paul Institute. She and i discussed the Lucy Burns Museum; she encouraged me to come back and see the current exhibition when it was less exciting outside (her words not mine).

There are definitely parts of the grounds that have remained untouched since 2001 (or at least aren't as heavily used). Those areas, which you can see from the parking lot, remind me of driving past Lorton when it was an active prison. They look sad and institutional. I'd like to go back and visit the museum and spend more time in the gallery spaces. Maybe take a class sometime. Like my museum, the next life of the Workhouse seems to be one where history, art, and community meet. I like this new life for the Workhouse. It gives me hope.

Prison View Estate photo
Other photos by me