Portsmouth Naval Prison
Kittery, ME


Photo courtesy of Seacoast Early Images.

This massive concrete “castle” on Seavey Island in Kittery was once the dreaded Portsmouth Naval Prison. The prison operated for 66 years and contained about 86,000 military inmates. It is perhaps best known as the destination of Jack Nicholson in the film “The Last Detail.” It is located on Seavey Island, part of the 200 year old Portsmouth Naval Shipyard complex in Kittery. This location is the site of the original Fort Sullivan built during the American Revolution in 1775. It was then rebuild during the Civil War. In 1898, before the prison was built, the island housed 1,612 Spanish prisoners of war from the Spanish American War in an open area called Camp Long. The current structure was built between 1905 and 1908 and housed as many as 3,000 prisoners at once during its peak use in World War II. It has been vacant for over 25 years. In 1999 a local developer and federal officials agreed on a plan to restore the building and lease space to private companies, but the project is currently on hold. The persistent story that Walt Disney was a prisoner here and used the design of “The Castle” for his creation of the one at Disneyland is a legend, not fact.

HOURS: Off limits to the public on federal shipyard facility
WEBSITE: http://www.ports.navy.mil/
ADMISSION: Free to see from a distance, but don't try to get close
PHONE: (207) 438-1525
ADDRESS: PNS, Portsmouth, NH 03804 Kittery, ME 03802
DIRECTIONS: Can be seen clearly from Piscataqua tour boats of from across the river at points along the New Castle shore
LINKS: More on Seavey Forts, More Shipyard History,