The harbor was long the homeland of the Quinnipiac people. In 1638 a company of English Puritans led by the Reverend John Davenport and the merchant Theophilus Eaton founded New Haven, and the surveyor John Brockett laid out its nine-square grid around the Green — the first planned town in America. For a time it was its own colony, a strict Puritan theocracy, until it was folded into Connecticut in 1664 and later shared the role of state capital with Hartford. The elms its settlers planted arched over the streets and gave the city its enduring name, and Yale College arrived in 1716. Out on the water, the harbor made New Haven a trading and oystering port, and in the nineteenth century a center of manufacturing.
New Haven's stories run with the harbor and the ridges. They'll tell you the elms once arched right over the streets, which is how the Elm City got its name. They'll tell you about the Great Shippe that sailed for England in 1646 and was never seen again — except, the legend says, as a phantom ship in the clouds over the harbor. They'll point up at West Rock and the regicides' cave, and down at the brownstone lighthouse on the Sound, and then they'll argue, at length, about whose apizza is best.
Why People Visit New Haven Connecticut
- Walk the New Haven Green, the 1638 central common of the nine-square plan, framed by its three historic churches.
- Hike West Rock to Judges' Cave, the regicides' hideout, along the Regicides Trail.
- Climb East Rock Park for the classic view over the city and the harbor.
- Visit Lighthouse Point Park for the 1847 Five Mile Point Light, the historic carousel, and Atlantic-flyway birding.
- Stroll Wooster Square for spring cherry blossoms and brownstones.
- See the free downtown museums — the Yale University Art Gallery and the Peabody Museum.
- Try a New Haven-style apizza, the city's signature charred, coal-fired pizza.
