While construction progresses on the Sing Sing Prison Museum, the museum’s fall programs are continuing, including walking tours, a storytelling series exploring the prison system and a dockside visit from a historic vessel.
The visitor’s center at the Ossining museum will open briefly in December before closing until April 10, according to Assistant Director Amy Hufnagel. Additional facilities will open in phases through 2028.
When completed, the facility in the former Olive Opera House on Central Avenue will consist of a first-floor gallery and eventually occupy storage and gallery space upstairs.
The museum’s mission extends beyond the state correctional facility’s 200-year history to explore incarceration in America today. Sing Sing was built in 1825, when men from Auburn state prison came by barge down the Erie Canal and then down the Hudson River to begin building a prison that would incarcerate them.
Here’s a preview of what’s coming up in October and November:
Historic Docking
On Friday, Oct. 24, the museum is hosting a visit from the Seneca Chief, a reproduction of the 1825 Erie Canal vessel that is making its way from Buffalo to New York City to honor the canal’s 200th anniversary.
The free event takes place at the Shattemuc Yacht Club on the Ossining waterfront from 4-6 p.m. Shuttles running from public parking lots near Here Coffee + Beer will take visitors to the yacht club.
While docked, the Seneca Chief becomes a floating museum, welcoming visitors aboard to explore recreated cabins, historical artifacts and interactive exhibits that highlight the canal’s cultural, economic, and environmental significance – including the contributions of Indigenous communities.
The event includes music, beer and food as the sun sets on the Hudson.
Walking tours
Walking tours along the Hudson River and around the prison’s edges are continuing on Oct. 25, 26 and 27 and Nov. 29 and 30.
Dubbed Sink or Sing: A Walking Tour about Crime, Punishment, Labor, and the Hudson River Region, offers insights into the dark history of a place in a stunningly beautiful location. The tour covers the building of the 1825 original cell block, the quarrying of Sing Sing marble, the origin of the U.S. penal philosophy and design.
Each one-hour tour ends with a 30-minute reflective art making project, led by a previously incarcerated person, that links back to the Hudson River School of painting.
Tours are wheelchair accessible, take place rain or shine.and leave from Louis Engel Waterfront Park, 25 Westerly Road in Ossining. Tickets are $15 and are purchased in advance.
Multimedia UNSUNG series
UNSUNG — a series presented in the Ossining Public Library’s Budarz Auditorium that blends film, music and moderated conversations — continues in October and November.
The museum’s collaboration with Life Stories and Musicambia library brings together formerly incarcerated individuals, advocacy and carceral professionals, artists and community members to explore the prison system through the lens of humanity, healing, and transformation.
The last two presentations in the series, which begin at 6:30 p.m., are:
- Oct. 9 -— UNSUNG: Love, featuring an interview with Lawrence and Ronnie Bartley, who married while Lawrence was incarcerated. Lawrence Bartley is publisher of The Marshall Project Inside for incarcerated audiences. The event also features a moderated panel and music by activist and singer-songwriter Kenyatta Emmanuel.
- Nov. 13 -— UNSUNG: Alone, featuring an interview with activist Noelle Richardson, plus a moderated panel and music by Alfred Roberts. A dessert and wine reception follows the event.
Visit singsingprisonmuseum.org/calendar for programs details.
