The historic Clearfield County Jail – built in 1872 in downtown Clearfield – is reopening this weekend as "The Rock on the River," which will house a fine-dining restaurant, distillery, speakeasy and event space.
The imposing building looks more like a castle than a former prison. It's made from pale sandstone blocks, with two turrets on the front corners and a tower on the top that was used to watch for escaping inmates.
“I remember growing up it was always more like black and gray on the outside, but now since it's been cleaned up you can see the nice sandstone that was originally sourced from Grampian, Pennsylvania," said Ashley Bell, the operations manager, who has been helping with renovations, hiring and event reservations.
Bell said the owners named it “The Rock on the River” to combine the building’s longtime nickname as a prison with its location on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
“(This building) functioned as a jail until 1979," Bell said. "There were a few hangings here, actually. There was also a riot at one point while it was still a jail, and a few escapees as well. And we think we might have some hauntings, so we definitely have people hearing different noises and footsteps and doors closing if they’re in here alone.”
Bell said they’re leaning into the building’s roots as a prison, and despite the prison’s dark history, Bell said The Rock on the River has something for everyone.
“Even if you’re not interested in the kind of morbid history of it, we’ve really kind of renovated that to showcase the elegance and like to have a nice, warm ambiance here for our customers," Bell said.
“The Warden Restaurant” on the second floor is part of a newly added section, which Bell says was needed to meet modern day standards.
“That was kind of the issue with the old building; it was hard to get that up to code," Bell said.
The restaurant space has chandeliers, arched windows, a wooden floor and painted walls with wooden accents. The restaurant also features a bar, which is one of several throughout the building.
Down a flight of stairs in the basement, there’s a speakeasy. Much like the prohibition-era speakeasies, the room is hidden behind a secret door. An antique wall phone acts as the door handle.
“This will be more for drinks, and we will offer kind of a more casual menu down here as well, more appetizers and things like that," Bell said.
Outside of the speakeasy are ten solitary confinement cells.
“We will actually be renovating these to be an Airbnb so that people, if they want to spend the night in solitary confinement, we will have a place for that," Bell said.
Up another floor is the “Cell Block,” which has two floors lined with individual cells. They plan to use it for a special dining experience.
Some cells include prisoner graffiti and poems on the walls.
“We're planning on doing, like, you can rent them for just a private dining experience," Bell said. "And we also wanted to kind of do each room a little different here, themed maybe after different serial killers or death row inmates in history, kind of the last meals of theirs.”
The Cell Block is one of several sections of the entire prison available for event rentals, including weddings.
There’s also a bridal suite on the second floor, which is near the “Doing Time Distillery.” That distillery builds off the work of Keith Billotte, a now-deceased community member who started the work of renovating the prison and creating a distillery about five years ago.
Jeremy Rice said he bought the building and took over Billotte’s work about three years ago.
“We hope that what we have done is… I don't know, makes him proud and his family proud," Rice said.
Since Rice bought the building, he said he’s enjoyed reading old newspaper articles about the prison. Eventually, Rice hopes to have history tours, possibly with the help of area historians.
“There is a plan in the future to do sort of a museum type of thing here that you can tour through and go through the history of stuff, but we're just trying to work out kinks and get sort of softly open at first, and yeah, one thing at a time," Rice said.
For now, Rice says they’re focused on opening the restaurant and bars.
This weekend is the grand opening for the Rock on the River. The Warden Restaurant will be open, along with live music.
