Join us on June 1, 2024 for our annual summer open house, where residents of Elfreth's Alley open their opens to the public to show how 21st century life happens in 18th century homes! All proceeds benefit the non-profit Elfreths Alley Association to preserve the Alley and Museum.
Our popular holiday open house fundraiser returns! Don't miss this unique opportunity to start the holiday season by seeing inside the homes of Elfreth's Alley while the sounds and smells of the holiday surround you.
Whether you've visited us for Deck the Alley or Fete Day before, or you were one of the 2,000+ people to stroll down for our Makers Market (wow!) we're so excited to celebrate with you! And this year we are excited to welcome back our Elfreth's Alley Holiday Elves - they will be peaking out of windows, around doors, and making their appearance throughout the Alley - come see how many you can find
Come visit us on December 9th, from 2-6pm. Feel free to contact us with any questions! This is a rain or shine (or even snow!) event.
The Elfreth’s Alley Association invites the public to a Makers Market on Nov 4th, 2023, from 11am-4pm! During this one-day event, local Philadelphia crafters, artisans, and regional makers will set up shop on Elfreth’s Alley, Philadelphia’s most historic residential street.
Centuries of artisans, craftspeople, and working class folks lived on this street, and this event celebrates that history by inviting present-day artisans and craftspeople to continue their business on the Alley. It is FREE to attend, but we recommend bringing some money to purchase the fantastic items you'll find!
Featured vending includes artwork, plants, candles, jewelry, home goods, and vintage items. You won't want to miss it!
This summer, we’re finding new ways to participate with Old City Philadelphia’s First Fridays programming! Each month, one of our Board members is setting a theme, speakers, events, snacks, and the museum will be open for free!
It’s a wonderful way to find new places and become an Old City regular. Come on by!
This summer, we’re finding new ways to participate with Old City Philadelphia’s First Fridays programming! Each month, one of our Board members is setting a theme, speakers, events, snacks, and the museum will be open for free!
It’s a wonderful way to find new places and become an Old City regular. Come on by!
We’ll be offering a practice tour for our volunteers who are interested in learning to give one themselves! This is also a great opportunity to learn some more history of the Alley if you’d like to deepen your understanding. Please RSVP through our Signup Genius link!
This summer, we’re finding new ways to participate with Old City Philadelphia’s First Fridays programming! Each month, one of our Board members is setting a theme, speakers, events, snacks, and the museum will be open for free!
It’s a wonderful way to find new places and become an Old City regular. Come on by!
New & newer volunteers are invited to come to the museum during open hours to get a lay of the land and ask any questions before jumping on board.
If you've been around the block (alley?) a few times, you should swing by too and offer any sage advice!
This summer, we’re finding new ways to participate with Old City Philadelphia’s First Fridays programming! Each month, one of our Board members is setting a theme, speakers, events, snacks, and the museum will be open for free!
It’s a wonderful way to find new places and become an Old City regular. Come on by!
On June 3, 2023, the Elfreth’s Alley Association will hold its annual Fete Day celebration. This is an event which dates back to 1934 (89 years!), in which residents of Elfreth’s Alley open their doors to allow visitors a glimpse of 21st century life in these 18th- and 19th-century houses. Discover how generation after generation have continued to preserve, alter and add to these historic structures.
There will be entertainment and history aplenty to enjoy as you walk by/inside the homes on the street. In the past we have welcomed musical groups, food vendors, artisan crafters, and historians to share their passion of the Alley with guests! We are so excited to welcome you all back this summer!
This event is a fundraiser for the Elfreth's Alley Association, which works to preserve this historic street and tell the stories of this place through the Elfreth's Alley Museum (at houses #124 and #126) and events throughout the year. There are a variety of ways to support our organization, including volunteering at events and in the museum, shopping in our gift shop, and donating if you can. Find more information about the street's history and ways to support our work at elfrethsalley.org
Centuries of artisans, craftspeople, and working class folks lived on this street, and the Elfreth’s Alley Association aims to honor that history and continue those traditions by inviting artisans and craftspeople to continue their business on the Alley. During our twice-a-year Market (the other is in November!), we coordinate with vendors around Philadelphia to come sell their crafts, treasures, and goods on our little street! Keep up with our social media to receive hints as to who the vendors will be for our Spring Makers Market.
Hours: 11am - 3pm
Ticketed: No
Rain or shine!
The Elfreth’s Alley Association was founded in 1934 to preserve one of America’s oldest residential streets. Since the 1960s, the EAA has operated a museum at houses #124 and #126 as part of its ongoing work to preserve and protect the historic district and interpret the contributions of everyday Philadelphians to the American story.
Donations and support help us continue this work and celebrate Philadelphian history!
INTERESTED IN VENDING? Fill out this form!
This summer, we’re finding new ways to participate with Old City Philadelphia’s First Fridays programming! Each month, one of our Board members is setting a theme, speakers, events, snacks, and the museum will be open for free!
It’s a wonderful way to find new places and become an Old City regular. Come on by!
Celebrate the festive season on Philly’s most historic residential street! At Deck the Alley, our winter-time Open House, visitors can be swept away by the historic homes decked out in holiday style. The residents once again open their homes for a holiday celebration like no other! Carolers and other performers fill the historic street with song and Colonial charm and admission to the Elfreth’s Alley Museum is included!
To limit crowding, we’re selling tickets in two two-hour time slots, and we encourage you to wear masks in indoor spaces.
More details to come! Event may be modified in accordance with public health mandates.
SAVE THE DATE - Elfreth’s Alley will host a Makers’ Market on November 5th, featuring regional artists, vintage vendors, and home goods makers. This street’s history is full of artisans, and we’re so excited to bring artisans back for a second year of this lovely event.
Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest details about this and other Elfreth’s Alley events:
Join us for our last First Friday of the 2022 Season!
October 7th, 5:30-8:00 pm
The cast and creators of the Grim Philly Tours and Grim Podcast will be joining us at the Alley to share highlights of the upcoming podcast season, tease us with dark stories about Philadelphia’s history, and show you that history is anything but dull.
Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest details about this and other Elfreth’s Alley events:
On June 21st from 10am-1pm, the Elfreth’s Alley Museum will be open free of charge as part of Wawa Welcome America’s Free Museum Days. Come visit our National Historic Landmark and step inside house #126 to learn about people who lived in this house and on this street over three centuries!
Currently on display, we also have work by artist Dilmar Gamero, which attempts to portray the lives of people who left little trace on the street.
Artist Dilmar Gamero discusses his work in the front room of house #126.
On June 4, 2022, the Elfreth’s Alley Association will hold its annual Fete Day celebration. This is an event which dates back to 1934, in which residents of Elfreth’s Alley open their doors to allow visitors a glimpse of 21st century life in these 18th- and 19th-century houses. Discover how generation after generation have continued to preserve, alter and add to these historic structures.
Stay tuned for more details about other entertainment, concessions, and refreshments to come.
Note: Visitors are expected to wear masks when entering private houses.
This event is a fundraiser for the Elfreth's Alley Association, which works to preserve this historic street and tell the stories of this place through the Elfreth's Alley Museum (at houses #124 and #126) and events throughout the year. There are a variety of ways to support our organization, including volunteering at events and in the museum, shopping in our gift shop, and donating if you can.
Fete Day 1952, from the Sunday Evening Bulletin Collection at Temple University’s Special Collections Research Center
Fete Day 2016
Huzzah! Did you know... The first Renaissance Festival ever held in North America was actually an elaborate medieval themed event staged on May 18th, 1778 in the City of Philadelphia? And that it was presented by occupying forces of the British Army? It included processions of pageantry, a river regatta, fireworks, a costumed dance ball and banquet, plus a mounted tournament of armored jousting knights! The event was the brainchild of British Captain John André (otherwise famous for plotting treason with Benedict Arnold), but also a skilled entertainment designer and theatrical director.
An illustration (created a century later) of what the Mischianza might have looked like. Image via Wikimedia Commons
Join us on May 25th for a virtual lecture from historian and reenactor Markus Harris. This event is a collaboration with the New Jersey Renaissance Faire.
Buy tickets ($5) now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/online-lecture-the-mischianza-medieval-merriment-in-revolutionary-philad-tickets-329241449037
“A Portal,” from Gamero’s previous “Pinhole poetry: Windows” series.
Photographer Dilmar Gamero will be opening his show “Experimentation at Elfreth's Alley” at the Elfreth’s Alley Museum on May 6th, 2022 as part of Old City’s First Friday celebration. Gamero has been producing interesting work on Elfreth’s Alley for several years now—check out his experiments to incorporate historic photos into the Alley’s current appearance using rephotography and stereoscopy. Now he has conceived a series of installations in conversation with historic images and archival materials which record the Alley’s history, posing questions about who is included in these collections and who is not. Gamero uses techniques ranging from the very simple—pinhole photographs—to the complex—videos generated from archival material using artificial intelligence—to produce pieces which explore topics such as child labor, domestic labor and which interrogate patterns of power and privilege.
This event is free! If you would like to support the work of the Elfreth's Alley Museum, there are many ways to do so! You can shop at our gift shop, make a donation, or sign up to volunteer!
On select dates in December, stop by house #124 Elfreth’s Alley to browse the wares at our new Holiday Pop-up Shop, featuring museum merchandise as well as the work of local artisans and vendors!
Deck the Alley, the iconic holiday fundraiser, returns to Philadelphia’s most historic street on Saturday, December 4th, 2021! The Elfreth’s Alley Association invites the public to get a glimpse of contemporary life inside 18th and 19th-century houses, tour the Elfreth's Alley Museum, and immerse themselves in seasonal decor and song. Buy your tickets today to support the work of preserving this special place and sharing its history with visitors near and far!
While this year’s Deck the Alley will take steps to make the event safe despite the ongoing pandemic (see below), our favorite traditions are back, from seasonal carols to costumed performers.
Entertainment includes:
20 private homes will open their doors for guest to look inside
Carols performed by groups including Historical Harmonies and Council Rock South High School’s Belle Canto
Urban stargazing led by Buddy Muhler
Costumed interpreters
Holiday Antiques from Ivy & Twig Antiques
A raffle of local goods, supporting the museum’s project to repaint many of its windows
The Museum will be open at house 126 with the gift shop next door at 124 and hot cider on offer in the back garden.
Safety measures:
Due to the ongoing pandemic, guests will not be able to enter private homes this year, but will be able to peer through many of the front doors and learn about the history of the street from our volunteer docents stationed at each house and in the museum at 126 and 124 Elfreth’s Alley.
Tickets are split into two time slots (3-5pm and 5-7pm) to limit crowding and allow distancing.
In accordance with the current city mandate, guests will be required to wear masks when entering the museum and gift shop areas. We will update the event description through all of our channels if we have to evolve Deck the Alley in response to future public health measures.
More details to come!
Tickets on sale now: https://elfrethsalley.ticketleap.com/deck-the-alley-2021
This event is rain or shine!
Tickets support the ongoing work of the Elfreth’s Alley Association to preserve and interpret the historic Elfreth’s Alley.
Our June Flea for All was so fun that we're bringing it back and calling it our Maker’s Market! Having an antiques and handmade goods market on the Alley felt so perfect and even a bit magical. So we’re getting everything ready for the next one … with all the additional enchantment of it happening in autumn.
Come on down to #ElfrethsAlley on November 6th, 10-4 to find a mix of crafts, antiques, and some used items looking for new homes from vendors and some donations from museum friends and family.
We’re gathering a very talented group of makers with a focus on traditional arts, along with sellers of lovely vintage and antique wares, a bit of music, some delicious food and a few delightful surprises! It’ll be a day of extra charm and beauty on the Alley and we can’t wait!
This event will raise funds for our ongoing museum and preservation work, and should be a lot of fun--don't miss it!
And stay tuned for vendor lists, sneak peeks and more news in the coming weeks … 🍂 Updates will be posted at the Facebook Event we have created and on our Instagram.
Vendors currently slated to attend include:
Beads of a Feather (jewelry)
Britleigh Foster (paintings)
Brujologie (embroidery, weaving, prints)
Corey Weiser-Vahey (ceramics)
Dear Alvena (jewelry/vintage)
FlutterbeeCo (jewelry)
Good Gertrude (hand-knitted wearable items)
Isabella Sparrow (vintage)
Jim King (false-grained wood items)
KC Essentials (bee products)
Paint it Forward (hand lettering)
RF Fineries (embroidered towels and aprons)
Warwick Furnace Farm (lavender products)
Whitt’s Wicks (candles)
WildThreads Original (custom wearables and home goods)
Yummy & Company (ceramics)
We still have space for vendors--interested parties should reach out at info@elfrethsalley.org.
This event is co-hosted with Isabella Sparrow
On June 26th we will be offering an hour-long tour of Elfreth’s Alley at a special time, 10:30am. Director Ted Maust will give an overview of the street’s history and the tour will venture through the museum at #126 as well as exploring much of the length of the Alley. A limited number of in-person tickets will be made available with many more tickets available for those joining via Zoom. Tickets are available now!
The Elfreth's Alley Association is holding a fundraiser market on June 12th from 10-3 in the museum garden and other locations around Elfreth's Alley. Board members, neighbors, and friends are donating a variety of items with character for sale, with proceeds supporting the ongoing work of preserving Elfreth's Alley and operating the Elfreth's Alley Museum.
Other vendors will be selling their wares, ranging from antiques to upscale decor to pottery on the Alley. Confirmed vendors:
RF Fineries
36 Craven
Junior League Thrift
Corey Weiser Vahey (ceramic artist)
Ivy and Twig Antiques
Several neighbors will be opening their front doors and allowing visitors to peek inside and catch a glimpse of 21st-century life in 18th- and 19t-century houses. The museum house at #126 will be open to visitors for a donation.
Stay tuned to the Facebook event for some highlights from the inventory on offer over the coming weeks!
***In case of rain, the market will be moved to Sunday, June 13th***
Join author Donna Ann Harris for this Zoom webinar about the second edition of her best-selling book 'New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America’s Historic Homes.'
Donna will set the stage for the rest of her talk by reviewing the case study about the Elfreth’s Alley Association, and its early preservation efforts to buy threatened houses, and rent them to tenants. Over 20 years, four houses were purchased. The board wrestled with the rental properties for decades but was never able to raise enough money to restore any of them, a long standing frustration. By the late 1960s the organization began to change its focus from buying homes to protect them from demolition, to restoring the Mantua Maker’s house at 124-126 Elfreth’s Alley for use as a traditional historic house museum. In the mid-1980s after nearly four decades of discussion at board meetings, the membership voted to sell three properties with façade and open space easements to private owners who had the wherewithal to restore them Donna will also share two brief case studies to highlight how other organizations have approached a change or use or user for their historic house museums.
The second edition of 'New Solutions for House Museums' was published on November 1, 2020 and is now available from Rowman and Littlefield Publishers/AASLH. The publisher is offering a 30% discount, if you are interested in purchasing the book. The discount code will be shared at the end of the presentation.
REGISTER HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learning-from-new-solutions-for-house-museums-tickets-148010969795
Published in 2007 at the start of the Great Recession, this book focused on the generational shift then occurring at historic house museums as board members and volunteers retired while few young people were stepping forward to take their place. These landmarks were also plagued with serious deferred maintenance concerns, and very few had any endowment at all. The book asked the question, what will happen to these sites in the next ten years and what can be done to assure their continued preservation for generations to come? In 'New Solutions for House Museums' Donna Ann Harris examined possible options and provided a decision-making methodology as well as a dozen case studies of house museums that made a successful transition to new owner or user, including the Elfreth’s Alley Association.
The second edition is substantially enlarged and expanded and provides advice for historic site stewards who have concerns about the financial sustainability of their historic house museum and its relevance to its local audience.
To broaden and deepen the impact of the book for a second edition, seven new case studies were added. The new case studies reinforce the book’s central argument that not every historic house museum, whether founded 100 years ago or last month, can be sustained long-term. Three of the new case studies are diverse historic sites, illustrating how African American, women and other minority focused historic sites, are pioneering new ways to commemorate their histories and interpret fascinating stories to visitors with the end goal of creating financially sustainable historic sites that are relevant to their audiences.
Over the last dozen years, 'New Solutions for House Museums,' has remained a best seller for American Association for State and Local History, and has been used in scores of graduate school programs across the country that are preparing the next generation of house museum curators and historic site administrators.
Donna Ann Harris is the principal of Heritage Consulting Inc. (@heritageconsutlinginc) a Philadelphia-based Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) consulting firm that aids non-profit organizations and government agencies nationwide in the following practice areas: downtown and commercial district revitalization, historic preservation, tourism product development, and non-profit organizational development.
Ms. Harris is nationally known as a Main Street professional, having served as State coordinator for Illinois Main Street before starting her consulting practice in 2004. She has worked with local Main Street organizations in 24 states and presented at every national Main Street conference since starting her firm. Most recently she recorded three, 90-minute fundraising webinars for the Main Street America Institute.
AltaMira Press published her book 'New Solutions for House Museums: Ensuring the Long-Term Preservation of America’s Historic Houses' in 2007. This title has been the best seller for AltaMira Press since its publication. A second edition was published by Rowman and Littlefield Publishers/AASLH in November 2020. For 16 years Ms. Harris has been speaking about and consulting with historic house museums around the country about alternative uses and stewardship responsibilities.
On March 21st at 1pm we are collaborating with PhilaLandmarks on a walking tour that looks at the socioeconomics of early Philadelphia. How did the rich and the poor live in 18th-century Philly? How possible was it to move upward in the tax brackets and social classes?
The tour will begin at Elfreth's Alley and end in Society Hill and last approximately 2 hours. It will be led by the inimitable Tish Byrne!
Get your tickets now! elfrethsalley.org/walkingtour
Photo by Katia Hashbarger
This ONLINE lecture will explore the social lives, religious contexts, economic circumstances, and legal strategies of single women who coupled together in late eighteenth-century Philadelphia, and argues that these households were a distinctly queer arrangement that operated outside of traditional patriarchal and heterosexual household structures. Through the framework of "queer possibility" this lecture will examine how literary culture, religious opportunities, and relationship models all contributed to a woman's ability to imagine and choose to share her life with another woman.
Tickets available from Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/.../yoke-fellows-and-life...
Speaker:
Isabel Steven earned her BA in History from the College of William and Mary in 2018, and has been working in history and art museums since 2016, including The J. Paul Getty Trust, The Valentine Museum, and Maymont Mansion. She is in the midst of earning her MA in Public History at Temple University here in Philadelphia, and currently works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This past summer she worked as an intern for the Elfreth's Alley Association to help bring to life the first season of The Alley Cast podcast.
The Elfreth's Alley Association has been hosting a summer open house (Fete Day) nearly every year since 1934, and while we can't hold the event on the Alley, we are going to capture some of the spirit of the day in virtual form.
Tune in on June 6th, 2020, via Facebook and YouTube (links to come) to get behind-the-scenes glimpses, quick how-tos on a variety of topics connected to the Alley, and a generally fun and informative time.
Let us know you plan to join us for this special day and invite friends and family who you think would be interested!
To tune in:
Click on one of the links below!
(Photo illustration by the Elfreth’s Alley Association, using an image from Flickr user AUM OER under Creative Commons licensing.)
Join us for our pop up exhibit, “Making Christmas” that takes visitors through a historic tour of German American Christmases past, and the influence they had on modern day American Christmas.
In the 1700s, the majority of colonists did not celebrate Christmas. This changed after they experienced the German traditions of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree. Soon Christmas cookies, toys and the influence of retail all became a part of the celebration. By 1870 Christmas was Established as a National Holiday.
Open to the public Saturday and Sunday, Thanksgiving through December 29th 12-4 pm. Admission $5
Hear the story of two of the most interesting colonial residents of the alley from award-winning Once Upon A Nation storytellers.
Visit us on Bladen’s Court, directly off of Elfreth’s Alley, and be transported back in time. Best of all, it’s completely FREE!
Stories last just a few minutes each and are told continuously during operating hours. You can start at any of the benches, all clearly marked with a “Once Upon A Nation” sign.
May 25 – 27, Memorial Day Weekend, daily: 11 am - 4 pm
May 31 – June 8, Fridays and Saturdays: 11 am - 4 pm
June 11 – August 10 (also Monday, July 1), Tuesdays - Saturdays: 11 am - 4 pm
August 16 – August 31, Fridays and Saturdays: 11 am - 4 pm
September 1 - 2, Labor Day Weekend: daily, 11 am - 4 pm
