Stay at the Cell Block

Spending the night in an old fashioned jail cell doesn’t sound like the most comfortable accommodations. But it is interesting. The Cell Block is a hotel room built into a jail last used in 1934. It’s in Clifton, Texas, a tiny town just a little northwest of Waco.

As soon as I read about it in Texas Monthly, I knew I had to stay there.

My wife and I made it into town late in the afternoon, probably around three. It was late January and the air was cold, the sun sitting low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the buildings. I noticed there weren’t many people.

The Cell Block is located down a tiny gravel alley, and parking our large SUV in the minimal parking was a challenge. There are murals on the walls of the buildings in the alley. They looked like they were painted very recently.

One of the first things we noticed inside the Cell Block is that it requires a certain level of intimacy with whomever you’re sharing it. The jail is essentially three areas — a bedroom, a bathroom, and a sitting area. They are all separated by the typical steel bars you’d find in an early 20th century jail. There is at least a fogged glass pane separating the the bedroom and bathroom cells. But you can hear all the sounds that are made in the bathroom, and that can be a little uncomfortable.

Luckily, there is a record player with a radio you can use to mask the sounds of your partner making toilet noises.

We locked up and went to explore the downtown area surrounding the Cell Block. It was a little deserted.

There were two antique stores, along with a couple of art galleries, both of which were closed. We shopped for antiques for a little while, then tried to find a restaurant. There were none open downtown. We asked some locals if there was anything to do, and they recommended the Cliftex movie theater. It’s a theater that’s been in operation since the 1920’s, and still shows new movies. We didn’t go, because they were showing Rogue One, and we’d already seen it. But it still looked pretty cool.

We were expecting a little more life from Clifton, but we weren’t terribly disappointed. I’m from a small town, and I know what they’re like. We came to stay at the Cell Block to get away from the city, to get some quiet. It’s what we got. We explored the town together, walking and chatting.

At dark, we went to the Red Caboose Winery, just on the outskirts of town. There we tasted wine and shared an olive plate, chatting with the owner, a former architect named Gary. On the way back into town, we stopped at Dairy Queen and got a Blizzard.

Back at the Cell Block, we lounged in large chairs in the sitting area. I put on Johnny Cash’s “Live at Folsom Prison” and we read. Every couple hours a train would roll through town, just a couple blocks away, and whistle loudly.

The jail is made of brick and it was cold. There is a small heater, and it worked hard, but it stayed chilly inside our room. We drank a flask of complimentary whiskey from Balcones Distllery to warm up a little.

When we finally went to bed, the charming jail cell became a little unnerving. It was pitch black and very quiet. The brick did not buffer any sounds, and we could hear the occasional car passing by. One even came down the alley, gravel crunching loudly. There are still bars on the windows of the jail, so I wasn’t worried about anyone getting inside. I was a little concerned about the chance of a fire and how we would get out.

I laid in the dark, imagining how it would feel to spend the night in this jail back in the 1920’s. I pretended there was a jailer playing cards just outside my cell, lazily picking his teeth with a toothpick. I’m sure there wouldn’t have been a Tempurpedic mattress to sleep on like I had now, but I bet it would have felt very similar. Dark and lonely. I drifted off to sleep.

In the morning we drank coffee and listened to Johnny Cash’s “Live from San Quentin.” Yes, the music offerings at the Cell Block are a little heavy handed on the jail theme, but it works. There was also a “Jailhouse Rock” record that we didn’t listen to.

The Cell Block is a chance to stay somewhere interesting, to fall asleep in a different world. It feels like traveling through time with just a touch of luxury. I’ll never forget my night in jail.