City: New Haven, CT

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (203) 787-0121

Address: 250 Temple St.

Description: This multiple attraction at the center of New Haven was the first planned green in America, completed in 1638. The city hall, courts, and Yale University group around the 16-acre space. There are 3 churches on the green itself: the 1814 United Church on the Green, the 1812 Center Church on the Green, and the 1816 Trinity Episcopal Church. The crypt under Center Church, which was built by architect Ithiel Town over a much older one, contains 1,000 remains, 137 of which are identified, the oldest from 1687. You can visit from Apr to Oct on Thurs and Sat from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On the east side, take the crosswalk to 165 Church St. to see the 14-foot bronze Amistad Memorial. Walk north on College Street to Grove Street Cemetery, where you’ll find the graves of Eli Whitney, Noah Webster, and Charles Goodyear, among others, and where many of the graves under the green were moved in 1796. But not all—it’s estimated some 5,000 to 10,000 people remain under the green. That’s only a fraction of the Puritans’ original intention, however. They supposedly designed it to hold the number of people they believed would be spared during the second coming of Christ: 144,000.