Travelrific® Travel Journal

Tales From the Crypt

April 17, 2014 8:00 am

By Linda Tancs

New Haven, Connecticut was settled in 1638 by a group of Puritans. In 1812, a church was built on the Green to house their remains and those of Revolutionary War veterans. Built over part of the burying ground, Center Church on the Green sports a basement crypt with a who’s who of eternal occupants. In peaceful repose lie Benedict Arnold’s first wife, President Rutherford Hayes’ family, Reverend James Pierpont (a founder of Yale College) and Sarah Rutherford Trowbridge (marked with a stone dated 1687, the oldest one in The Crypt). Overall, The Crypt contains the identified remains of about 137 people and the unidentified remains of over 1,000 souls and marks the last remaining evidence of the city’s early settlers. Crypt tours take place April through October on Thursdays and Saturdays.