Elfreth’s Alley
Earlier this week I visited Philadelphia, PA for a Real Estate BarCamp. We organized a little photo walk for the morning of our return home, passing by Penn’s Landing, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Philadelphia is a beautiful city, proud of it’s history and diversity. My favorite place of all was Elfreth’s Alley.
Elfreth’s Alley is the longest continually inhabited residential street in the United States. The 32 homes were built between 1728 and 1836. The stone doorsteps have been worn down over generations. One of the more interesting features are the mirrors on metal brackets over the doors, so that someone upstairs can see who’s at the door. (Legend has it that Ben Franklin was quite a lady’s man, and the mirrors were his invention to see if hubby was coming home early.)
I just loved the bright, cheerful doors. There were no yards, but flowers everywhere.
Over the years, this little alley has been home to over 3,000 people.
This is one of the last intact early American streets, saved from destruction of the years by the residents themselves. (The construction of I-95 in the 50s was a close call.)
From it’s first days, this has been a neighborhood full of people from distinctly different backgrounds: A Christian family next to a Jewish family next to a family of former slaves. While the buildings themselves are beautiful and deserve protection, I’m so glad the spirit of America - that we are all worthy - has been protected as well.
May 30th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I love that! It reminds me of Fell’s Point in Baltimore (heck, a lot of Baltimore neighborhoods). Fell’s Point also narrowly missed being taken out by I-95.