First Week of Excavation!

Foundation Walls present in top and right of picture

The 2013 field season at Elfreth's Alley started this week!  Over the weekend we dismantled a portion of the brick patio in the courtyard behind the Museum of Elfreth's Alley; no small feat given the concrete mortar holding the bricks together.  After pulling up the bricks, we prepped the area for excavation.  So far we have opened up one new unit, unit 13, behind 126 Elfreth's Alley.  We have already located several foundation walls in the unit associated with the former structures that stood in this location.  A quick review of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) map of Elfreth's Alley from 1931 shows the footprint of the structures.  Unit 13 is placed with in the interior of the last structure depicted behind 126 Elfreth's Alley.  Excavation will help illuminate the function of this structure.

Volunteer excavating Unit 13

We got rained out today, but will be back out digging next week!  

Fete Day in Review

The annual Fete Day celebration at Elfreth's Alley was last Saturday.  The day was replete with colonial artisans and colonial eats!  

Artisan Spinner working the the Alley

Michele Schutte, Museum Curator, also gave a demonstration on traditional colonial garb.  

Michele explaining how to wear colonial attire

We also had a small archaeology display and spoke with visitors about the ongoing excavations throughout the day.  

Archaeology Display

Overall, it was a great event and a beautiful day for a stroll down the Alley!

Volunteer Sign-Up Sheet

The Online Sign-Up Sheet for volunteering with the excavation at Elfreth's Alley this summer is up! More information about volunteering is available on the Volunteer Opportunities section of the blog.  Be sure to read all the directions before signing up.  Check out the calendar for the schedule of days we will be out digging. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact Deirdre at dkelleher@temple.edu. 

Fete Day

Elfreth's Alley's annual Fete Day is this Saturday, June 8th!  Every June alley residents open their homes to visitors to celebrate the history of the small street.  The event has been an alley tradition since the 1930s.  Come by the alley and enjoy the festivities including a brief talk about Archaeology on the Alley at 2pm!  More information and tickets for the event can be found here.

Also check out the nice write-up about Fete Day on Uwishunu.