National Historic Landmark · prison · Mount Holly, New Jersey

Burlington County Prison

United States historic place in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Added to the National Register in 1986, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visit National Historic Landmark Listed 1986 Robert Mills

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

What it is

The Burlington County Prison is a historic museum property, located at 128 High Street in Mount Holly in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. Operating from 1811 to 1965, it was the oldest operating prison in the nation at the time of its closure. Designed by Robert Mills, its design exemplified period thinking in progressive prison design, with individual cells, good ventilation, and fireproof construction. It was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1937. Now operated by a local nonprofit as a museum, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. It was later listed as a contributing property of the Mount Holly Historic District on February 20, 1973.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property type	Building
Address	High St., Mount Holly, NJ
County	Burlington County
Listed	Jun 24, 1986
Listed for	Architecture
Level of significance	National
Also known as	Burlington County Prison Museum
Reference number	86003558
Architect	Robert Mills
Type of place	prison
Designations	National Historic Landmark
Contributing resources	1 building, 1 structure
Standing	Yes

Visiting

Address	High St., Mount Holly, NJ
Website	prisonmuseum.net ↗
Coordinates	39.9966° N, 74.7893° W · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unit	Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail · 8 miles · on Park Atlas

This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

At a glance

State: New Jersey
County: Burlington County
Listed: 1986
Type: Building
Landmark: Yes
Architect: Robert Mills

Cell signal

Verizon: 4G LTE
AT&T: 5G (fast)
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Drawings & photographs

Burlington County Prison, 128 High Street, Mount Holly, Burlington Cou

Measured drawings and photographs from the Library of Congress. Public domain. All 1 record ↗

Map

Nearby in Burlington County

All listings in Burlington County →

Building · 0.3 km

Old Schoolhouse

BuildingListed 2008

Historic district · 0.4 km

Mount Holly Historic District

Historic districtListed 1973

Local history books for Burlington County

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

The Burlington County Prison
Dennis C. Rizzo, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org

Guidebooks to historic places and travel in New Jersey

Discovering New Jersey's Pine Barrens
Cathy Antener, 2012
Find at Bookshop.org
Day trips from Hudson Valley
Randi Minetor, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org
WPA Guide to New Jersey
Federal writers' project, 2013
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Burlington County Prison listed on the National Register?

Jun 24, 1986. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

Who designed Burlington County Prison?

Robert Mills.

Source: Wikidata

Can I visit Burlington County Prison?

Yes. Burlington County Prison is recorded as open to the public, and hours are on the official website.

Source: Official website

Where is Burlington County Prison?

High St., Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey. The nearest national park unit is Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, 8 miles away.

Source: Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail

What does the Burlington County Prison listing include?

The listing counts 2 contributing resources. Those are 1 building and 1 structure. A contributing resource is a part of the listed property that carries its historic significance.

Source: National Park Service

Are there historic photographs or drawings of Burlington County Prison?

Yes. The Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress has drawings or photographs of it.

Source: Library of Congress

Is there cell service at Burlington County Prison?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 4G LTE, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 86003558. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA. Drawings and photographs are Historic American Buildings Survey records at the Library of Congress, public domain.