In center of the original Village of Kingston, purchased from the Narragansett Indians in 1658, sits the Old Washington County Jail. The building in today's photo, built in 1858, is the third jail to serve the County. The original, built in 1752, was a poorly constructed wooden structure that was notorious for jailbreaks. It was replaced by another wooden structure in 1803, but that building also proved incapable of holding anyone long-term. Finally, in 1858 this two story granite cellblock was built. The first floor jail cells held two prisoners per cell and were designed for the hard-core criminals - primarily rapists and murderers. Debtors, female prisoners, and well-behaved male prisoners were held on the second floor. A steam boiler brought hot water and central heating to the building in 1885, and electricity was added in 1906. The jail was used continuously until 1956 when the County Jail System was eliminated in Rhode Island. For historical preservation purposes, the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society purchased the jail from the State of Rhode Island in 1960 for $1. The building still serves as the Society's headquarters.
Post processing started with a warm tone II filter in Topaz B&W FX. I made slight adjustments to the color sensitivity sliders, and then adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, boost black, boost white, and protect highlights. I then worked on the stocks in PSE, applying a 20% dodge to highlights, and a 10% dodge to midtones and shadows. I also applied a 10% burn to shadows to improve the contrast. A levels, brightness, and contrast adjustment was added as well.
