Elfreth's Alley Museum

Elfreth's Alley is recognized by its narrow, cobblestone surface and the thirty-two brick row houses that line it, many featuring distinctive small mirrors known as busybodies projecting from second-story windows. Established in seventeen oh three as a cart path between Front and Second Streets, it is widely cited as the oldest continuously inhabited residential street in the United States. While the alley began as a practical route for workers and tradespeople to reach the Delaware River, it evolved into a dense neighborhood of Georgian and Federal-style homes built between seventeen twenty and eighteen thirty-six.