Yale University is what comes to mind when one thinks of New Haven. Situated along the coastline of Connecticut’s Long Island, the city is known for its culture, history, and culinary experiences. It is America’s first planned city. Being a university town, one might have the misconception that that’s all that is there to it. You could ride up to the top of the hill in a New Haven Car service to experience the breathtaking coastline and unwind. If you love history, there are various museums that you can visit, and there is always something for those who love to explore things that are out of the box. Following are just some of the places that you must visit when in New Haven.
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
This library is the home to the rare books of Yale University. The architecture of the library is breathtaking. It is a stark modern marble building where the books are stored in elevated, glassed-in, six storey book stacks. It is the library of dreams for all those who love books. The library houses an extensive collection of medieval manuscripts, rare books, maps, historical tracts, and pamphlets. Not just that. The library is also home to artists’ books and rare limited editions. The oldest book in their collection is the Gutenberg bible, which was printed around 1454. The library does give access to visitors in a closely controlled underground reading room.
East Rock Park
If you are looking to get away and unwind and breathe in the fresh air, then East Rock Park is the place. This is a place where you can see the Long Island Sound unfold and stretching into a deep blue into the distance. It is a great way to experience the city. You can get to the top of the rock by foot, bike or car. On top of the rock is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, an iconic landmark of New Haven. The monument dates back to 1887. It was built to honor New Haven citizens who lost their lives in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War.
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Starting in the year 1886, the Peabody Museum is one of the world’s best natural history museums. This museum is the home to various wildlife dioramas, along with compelling permanent exhibitions of ornithology, mineralogy, Connecticut’s Native Americans, and the evolution of humans and animals. The museum’s vertebrate paleontology collection is housed in the Great Hall of Dinosaurs. You can found the skeleton of a young brontosaurus in this great hall.
Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium
Founded in 1830, Yale University’s astronomical observatory is a digital planetarium theatre. In the main building, you can find displays of vintage instruments like the 5-inch Dolland refractor, which was used in 1835 to observe the Halley’s Comet. The observatory continues to use a historic 8-inch Reed refractor, which was the university bought in 1882. The west dome of the observatory has a computer-controlled 0.4-meter reflecting telescope.
Yale University Art Gallery
Yale University Art Gallery is the oldest university art museum in the US as it was established in 1832. The gallery houses an extensive collection that includes more than 13,000 items from the ancient Mediterranean world, 2,000 items from African art, and about 1,500 from the Ancient Americans. The galleries of this museum have been decorated by the works of John Singleton Copley, Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, George Bellows, John Singer Sargent, and Edward Hopper, to name a few.
Skulls and Bones Tomb
Connecticut has been famous for its tomb societies, which are also called senior societies and landed societies. Skull and Bones is the most prominent society. It is one of the oldest societies, with three U.S. presidents as its members – William Howard Taft, Georg H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush, various media leaders, Congress members, finance industry captains, and Supreme Court justices, to say a few. The tomb is bare, symmetrical, and sandstone building. The tomb has been decorated with skeletons, skills (real and artificial), coffins, and other grim funeralia, statuary, and artwork. Death is the theme of the décor.
