Elfreth’s Alley will celebrate Labor Day, on Monday September 3rd by honoring the generations of working people who have lived on the street by offering free admission to its house museum from 12-3 pm. Visitors will have the opportunity to have a self-guided walk through experience of the Museum House.
Additionally, visitors will have the opportunity to interact with History Maker Gini Loomis portraying Sarah Melton. Sarah Melton was a colonial businesswoman who worked as a “mantua maker” designing one- of-a-kind dresses for her clients in Philadelphia. She lived in our museum house beginning in the 1760s until her death of yellow fever in 1793.
The Museum House has an interpretation inside in honor of the many generations of
working class Philadelphia's who have inhabited the street. It emphasizes the daily
experience of their lives, specifically featuring Sarah who lived here in the 18th century,
and the Kolb family, German immigrants. who lived here and raised their family in the
mid -19th century and were shoemakers. There is also a small exhibit that pays tribute
to the many Irish Immigrants who lived on the Alley and worked as unskilled laborer at
jobs in Old City on their arrival to this country in the late 19th century into the early 20th century.