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1. Yale University Art Gallery
The artworks of many epochs and regions are on display, but the museum is most noted for its collections of French Impressionists and American...
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2. Peabody Museum of Natural History
Head to the third floor and work your way down. Up at the top are dioramas with stuffed animals in various environments: bighorn sheep, Alaskan...
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3. Yale Center for British Art
What looks like a parking garage from outside is a great deal more impressive inside. The museum, underwritten by Paul Mellon and designed by Louis...
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4. Knights of Columbus
- Named after the fraternal brotherhood, Knights of Columbus museum is one of the finest religiously themed museums in America. Situated beside the... read more
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5. Al-Islam Mosque
- This is a city location for Muslim worship and other services. Check website for local prayer times. read more
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- Religious Sights
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6. Wooster Street
- Follow your nose to the most distinct district of downtown New Haven. Wooster Street was the center of New Haven's Italian community prior to the... read more
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7. Beaver Ponds Park
- Beaver Ponds was once a wetland and considered useless. Today it is a picture of ball fields, swimming pools, playgrounds, and lush greenery. Bowen... read more
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8. Lighthouse Point Park
- Long Island Sound is a unique estuary where salt water from the sea mixes with the fresh river water, creating a biodiversity of different species... read more
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9. Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (The)
- The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum consider themselves a laboratory for museum education. They have programs for adults, children, teens and teachers.... read more
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10. Center Church
- The Congregational United Church of Christ, as it is more formally known, has stood on the New Haven Green since 1639. The current Georgian structure... read more
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The Best of NileGuide
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Over the last twenty years, the Elm City has been transformed from a slum-littered ghetto into a center for arts and culture. The revival has been due in large part to Yale University's improved "town-gown relations" which have included financial incentives for home buyers and vast infrastructure and property investments.
As New Haven's most prominent landmark, the Yale campus is a natural place to start your exploration. Tours cover residential life on campus, the Sterling Memorial Library in all its gargoyled, Gothic glory, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which houses such treasures as the original Gutenberg Bible.
After whetting your appetite with the 90-minute tour, choose from a wealth of word-class museums to spend your afternoon. The Yale University Art Gallery, at Chapel and High Street, is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. The Yale Center for British Art at 1080 Chapel Street houses the largest collection of British art outside of the U.K., from the Elizabethan period onward. If fossils and dioramas are your style, stop by the Peabody Museum of Natural History at 170 Whitney Avenue. For a taste of avant-garde to complement these ancient treasures, see the exhibits of student work at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery at 180 York Street. And if you're looking for sites off the beaten path, check out the Shoreline Trolley Museum (17 River Street) or the Knights of Columbus Museum (1 State Street).
When MLS (Museum Leg Syndrome) has got you itching for outdoor adventures, New Haven offers more parks, beaches, and lookout points within driving distance of downtown than most other urban areas. Have a picnic on the 16-acre New Haven Green, voted one of the 100 best public spaces in the U.S., or catch one of the many performances and festivals hosted on the Green throughout the year: the New Haven Jazz Festival, Film Fest New Haven, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, or the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. In fall or spring, feast your eyes on the foliage at East Rock, Edgewood Park, West Rock, or Edgerton Park, where running trails and a view of the harbor make the trek out to the city outskirts worth your while. In warm weather, check out the sports fields and public beach at Lighthouse Point, or check out the history of this site as a Revolutionary War battlefield and home to a 90-year-old restored antique carousel.
From world-class museums to woodsy adventures, from Gothic grandeur to modern art, New Haven may be small as cities go, but its offerings are big-time.
