Historic Meeting House Grace Chapel view of the Old Door entrance in New Haven CT

When I travel the USA, I really like to make the most of a town and check out it's historical landmarks, local parks, and special features.  In the New Haven area, you can't miss the Sleeping Giant State Park, which was named because it actually looks a bit like a sleeping giant! The two miles of mountaintop are a specific feature of Connecticut's skyline and the old stone observation tower on the peak of Mt. Carmel is a great place to view both New Haven and the Long Island Sound.

For the history buff, check out the Long Wharf Pier, at New Haven.  It is the home port of the Freedom Schooner Amistad. This tall ship commemorates the struggle of a group of Africans who were captured in their homeland to be forced into slavery.  These people fought against their captures, seized the ship and won their freedom. It is worth checking out the story ahead of time, especially if you are taking kids on tour with you.  Also, the Amistad isn't stationary, docked in New Haven all the time, it tours ports in the USA and even abroad.  Contact them ahead of time for locations and dates. 

The Yale Peabody Museum is "the" classic natural history museum of the USA.  It is exactly what you picture for a kid's school field trip with several dinosaurs on display.  This museum was a gift from George Peabody back in 1866, and today it holds more than 11 million objects in the scientific areas of anthropology, botany, paleontology and more.  It is easy to spend an entire day wandering through the museum and just trying to see it all. 

Traveling in New Haven would not be complete without stopping by Yale University itself for a little tour of the famous campus.  There are even tours available either by appointment or self-guided, and you can easily do the tour in a little over an hour, so it is a nice thing to do without being overwhelmed. There is even an architectural treasure hunt tour designed specifically for kids, which is really nice to do.

Even though there are lots more things to do here in New Haven, I have to specifically mention one more.  Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library isn't for everyone, but if you are into this, check it out.  The Beinecke is almost more like a museum than a library, with special exhibits offered to the public.  They actually have an original Gutenberg Bible, printed from moveable type back around 1454 in Germany.  If you are interested in visiting the Beinecke, check out their website ahead of time so that you will know what is available and all the special terms and conditions that you will need to meet.

New Haven is a great old USA town with much history and beautiful old architecture.  It is worth spending a little time to think about where you want to visit when you are here, so that you can maximize your travel days and really make the most out of all there is to do.