Elfreth’s Alley

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Dating back to 1702 Elfreth’s Alley is the oldest continuously inhabited street in the USA. There are 32 houses on the Philadelphia street which were built between 1728 and 1836. Numbers 124 and 126 house the Elfreth’s Alley Museum.

The street is named for Jeremiah Elfreth, one of the blacksmiths who contributed his land to found a neighborhood for tradesmen close to the Delaware River waterfront. As industry changed, factories sprang up around Elfreth’s Alley, making it obsolete. In the 1930s, the Elfreth’s Alley Association formed to save the neighborhood from demolition.

Now a National Historic Landmark, homeowners are required to maintain the buildings’ exterior in original condition. Many have modernized the necessities in…