Philadelphia - Elfreth's Alley

http://www.elfrethsalley.org/

"Our nation's oldest residential street" dates back to 1702, though some of the houses are newer.

Essentially you have one narrow alley with tall, narrow houses facing each other. The standard model is to have three floors, with each floor being a single room. This is also known as a Trinity house.

We read that it was one of the top ten things to see in Philadelphia, so we went, but we did not know that there was a Museum House or tours. We may have been there at the wrong time for that. Without any interpretation it may seem a little dull, though there were some charming features.

Our bus guide had told us that there were houses for sale, but in addition to being expensive I suspect they would be very inconvenient. Residents seem to take pride in their proximity to history though, at least based on all the flags. This is just one example.

We just walked down the street and back up it, slowly looking around.

There was one detour we were not expecting, in that this alley has it's own alley, Bladen's Court. I had not seen any mentions of it previously, but it does show up on this page, and people seem to like it.

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/elfreths-alley.htm

From a real estate point of view, a house on Elfreth's Alley could set you back almost $800,000 while a house in Bladen's Court would about half that price, so that's something to think about while shopping.

The trees and the quiet do give the neighborhood a nice atmosphere, and you are within easy walking distance of many important and interesting historical locations, but I ultimately do consider this more of a place to visit than to live.