Elfreth's Alley was home to 18th century Philadelphians and is known as "our nation's oldest residential street". There are 32 beautiful homes that line the alley, including a museum and a gift shop. Every year, they do a little event called "Deck the Alley" where you can tour some of the homes, have refreshments and be entertained by carollers and Ben Franklin. I love going on house tours, so Eric and I decided to check it out before heading to dinner. The photo above is the street during the daytime, but it looked more like this when we got there on Saturday night:
It would be nice to come back and walk around during the day and take some photos, but there was also something nice about being there with the lights on, trying to stay warm with hot cocoa, and listening to the carollers:
Unfortunately, they asked us not to take photos inside the homes:( So we were only able to take outdoor photos which was difficult since it was so dark. The homes were beautifully maintained and very traditionally decorated - not my personal style but very appropriate. There were some that were tiny - we toured one that was only 9' wide! But most were 16' wide and pretty deep with decent yards (decent for city standards). My favorite thing was this sort of hidden alley that extended from the street that was lined by trees which created a natural canopy:
Along that alley were a couple more homes and at the end was a communal courtyard. I LOVED it! It's like living in your own little private world. There are some drawbacks though - moving or even just getting groceries home would be a pain - you wouldn't be able to get a car though the alley.
If you're interested in visiting or just learning more about Elfreth's Alley, you can find more information here. It's definitely worth checking out!
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