NEW HAVEN in Connecticut has a population of over 135,000 people and dates from 1638 when it was planned and laid out by English Puritans. It is located on the northern shore of Long Island Sound, however we had no awareness of the coastal link as we had booked a single night at the Omni Hotel, downtown, to give us a good base for exploring the city and some of its noteworthy locations.
Downtown New Haven seemed to be a city of two halves when we spent Wednesday July 31 2024 exploring. The part inhabited by Yale University’s many buildings and students had, not only its own architectural style, but also its own pace and very relaxed and safe atmosphere. Elsewhere, the rest of New Haven felt a little edgy, particularly around the New Haven Green, but as we explored the streets away from the central square we did feel a lot safer.
After a filling meal at the historic Louis’ Lunch (read our review HERE), we knew we’d have to get walking to burn it off and with a general idea of which direction to go, set off for Grove Street Cemetery with the hope of seeing some of Yale University along the way. It didn’t take us long to spot them!
The University buildings reminded us very much of our hometown, Durham, in the U.K., except the Yale buildings were a bit more “crisper”. Not quite new, as they still looked old, but the edges and cornerstones seemed a lot sharper. Closer inspection of the properties showed that many had been built in the 1930s, and yet they felt Victorian and very English to us.
A little further away, when we took a wrong turning and walked a while down Trumbull St., we had a very weird sensation that we were back in England. It all seemed so very English and it was only the American road signs and direction of traffic that pulled us out of our reverie.
As we walked around New Haven, we were intrigued to see blue lights erected on pillars and buildings. A quick Google search revealed that these lights were to warn of parking bans during snow emergencies!
With 78°F heat and 84% humidity, snow was the last thing on our minds and it was nice to step inside the Sterling Memorial Library and cool down while we explored the first floor. The building was like a cathedral, all stone, stained glass and vaulted ceilings, and reminded us of some scenes from the later Harry Potter movies, thanks to the academic feel.
A friendly street warden, who had approached us earlier in the day and gave us some directions for the library, had said it was next to an “ugly building” which held a huge collection of rare books and was fire and bomb proof.
The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library is indeed one of the ugliest buildings we’ve ever seen, and we were astounded that it had been allowed to be built opposite the Sterling Memorial Library. The Beinecke Library building’s exterior is apparently made from thin pieces of marble to allow filtered light through. As ingenious as this is, the building remains ugly and inappropriate for its location (in our opinion).
Grove Street Cemetery was a lot closer than we expected - literally a few steps away from the ugly library - and we spent a half hour wadering around the historical and modern gravestones in the sunshine (read our article HERE).
During our walk we passed many more Yale University properties which, thankfully, were pleasing on the eye, as we made our way to the Peabody Museum (read about our visit HERE).
Back closer to our hotel, we called into a CVS near the dodgy New Haven Green (read why HERE) where we shouldn’t have been surprised to see that candies were under lock and key in cabinets! We’d seen this kind of thing before in other stores, but it’s usually expensive goods or medications - never sweeties! Who knew that M&M’s and Hershey’s were such high commodity items!
New Haven has its own style of pizza, known as apizza (apparently pronounced “ah-BEETZ”), and has a thin, crispy crust with minimalist toppings. While picking up a bottle of Tito’s vodka from a liquor store the sales clerk kindly recommended we try the nearby restaurant called BAR, which we did later that night. The food turned out to be the best of all the many dishes we went on to try on our travels across New England (read our review HERE).
Our walk in the sun covered just under 4 miles.
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR TIME IN NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, SEE THESE SPECIFIC BLOGS OF THE PLACES WE VISITED:
Louis' Lunch (Birthplace of the hamburger sandwich in America)
📌 VISIT NEW HAVEN - One Region, 15 Towns, Unlimited Adventures
See all our Connecticut photographs in a special album on our Facebook page >>> P&K USA
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