Old Weird Philly: Elfreth's Alley, Wood St. Steps

Elfreth's Alley is the oldest residential neighborhood in America. Pretty little Georgian style houses in Flemish bond brick snugly lined along a narrow cobblestone walk.



Even more charming is Bladens Court, an even more narrow alley that runs off Elfreth's Alley and ends in a small courtyard that is otherwise completely hidden.



On a small, isolated fragment of neighborhood that has been marooned for decades by the construction of I-95, we find the Wood Street Steps. The Wood Street Steps were proposed by William Penn himself during the late 17th Century, as a compromise between the landowners along the waterfront and the general public who needed access to the river. Once a common feature of Philadelphia, these are the last of Penn's steps, and thus the last piece of Philadelphia's eighteenth-century waterfront. The narrow Wood Street Steps can be found between 323 and 325 North Front Street.