Elfreth's Alley Museum

Elfreth's Alley consists of thirty-two houses squeezed onto a narrow lane, their colorful shutters and brick facades dating back to the early eighteenth century. Artisans, blacksmiths, and mariners once lived in these cramped quarters, working right where they slept. When the city began to modernize in the nineteen thirties, the residents formed an association to save the street from demolition. They kept the original cobblestones and eighteenth-century architecture intact while the rest of the neighborhood grew tall around them.