Each year for the last 90 , the Elfreth’s Alley Association holds its annual Elfreth’s Alley Day: A Neighborhood Fete. The event — slated for Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. — isn’t just an open house to enjoy Philadelphia’s Old City and America’s oldest block that is continuously in use, but it’s also an eclectic mix of how those homeowners are the caretakers of some of the oldest houses in America.
It’s a showcase — a mixture of post-Covid living in Philadelphia — combined with the heavy responsibility of the preservation of America’s oldest street whose houses began to emerge in 1703 and continued to spring up in Old City Philadelphia until 1836. The improvements made for modern living, routine upgrades of any Pennsylvania house, with a careful ode to Philadelphia’s history — whether with a flag blowing over the threshold or placing period furniture to compliment the interior— are acknowledged and celebrated.
The Philadelphia Trinity houses that comprise the Alley began with a mutual donation of the land between Arthur Wells and John Gilbert sometime between 1702 and 1704. It was renamed during the mid-18th century in honor of Jeremiah Elfreth, who was a Philadelphia Blacksmith. Not long after , Elfreth’s Alley was home to all manner of tradespeople from pewter smiths to glassblowers. The Elfreth’s Alley Association was founded in 1934 to preserve its history.
As Philadelphia once again prepares to welcome America during it’s summer months , more than 250,000 people will visit Elfreth’s Alley. After all, it’s not just one of the best parts of Philadelphia. It’s one of the best parts of America.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt is a member of the Old York Road and Wissahickon Historical Societies and lives and works in Abington Township.
