Most early settlers lived in houses to be sure, but records indicate that many chose to live in caves, a practice which persisted past the 1680s.

According to Watson’s Annals, the caves were dug into the bluff of the riverbank, with sod and wood constructions forming a front wall. Chimneys were made of stones mortared together with clay and grass. Caves existed at Spruce Street, Green Street, and other locations.

As evidence of this, Watson mentions a land deed from 1683 that read “executed and witnessed in the cave of Francis Daniel Pastorius, Esq.” There were also caves of ill repute. A 1685 court document accuses one Joseph Knight of “suffering drunkenness and evil orders in his cave.”

Colonial magistrates had it out for the caves generally, ordering them to be demolished for undermining Front Street in 1685, though one was reported to have survived to 1830.

Source

Watson’s Annals, 1887