This Entry is about a pair of small towns along the Interstate 95 in Connecticut (CT).

West Haven

West Haven is a suburb of New Haven¹, but it has lost its suburban qualities as it is now mostly downtown. However, it still retains plenty of its residential areas. These are unfortunately not the picture of suburbia.

West Haven sports a fantastic lack of fantastic things. Its few attributes include:

Notre Dame High School

A private Catholic all-male high school that churns out high quality students instructed in both the facts and the faith; Notre Dame High School is for those students who desire a less secular education. It takes in students from across the state and graduates about 200 a year.

West Haven High School

Home to most of West Haven's graduates (over 1,000 per year), West Haven High School is a typical American public school.

The Beaches

West Haven was once home to Savin Rock which was an amusement park that rivalled Coney Island. It was a great tourist attraction, and the area has been preserved, though the historic amusement park has since been torn down. It was actually the first proposed site for Disney World (remembering kindly that Disneyland was the first park). However, the deal soured, and Disney took their business to the Floridians. The rock and the beach are still there, and it's still beautiful.

The entire coastline of Connecticut sits on the legendary Long Island Sound which is an estuary. Owing to the nearby harbour and the high boat traffic in the surrounding area, the water here has become polluted. However, most of the coast not neighbouring New Haven's port is actually extremely nice beachfront property. The water is cleaner and better than it has ever been, but it is nowhere near the standards of the Floridian coasts.

Every year a Savin Rock Festival is held and a carnival arrives in honour of the once thriving amusement legend. The beach is also home to Jimmie's Restaurant, Turk's, and Chick's - three great summertime seafood dining establishments.

The Mayor

The previous mayor, Richard Borer, ruled over this fair city for over a decade. All signs seemed to show that he would continue to reign for many more years, however in the recent election, Borer was voted out of office. The current² mayor of West Haven is John M Picard who graduated from Notre Dame High School.

Notable Businesses

• Bayer Corporation (BayerAG on the stock market) of Leverkeusen, Germany, has a clinical pharmacology division based in West Haven. This is one of many American locations of the Bayer Corporation facilities. The plant in West Haven was the foremost producer of the antibiotic Ciproflocacin or Cipro, which was used in the Gulf War to combat Anthrax threats, and again during recent terrorist displays of anthrax. Due to recent troubles with the company, the production warehouse and several other offices were closed down. Bayer Corporation is a major employer of the town, and the layoffs were quite trying. The company branch still stands, but is a shell of its former self. However, they still maintain offices and have recently released a new cancer medication. It is still a vital part of the business community, however dwindling that may be.

• Mike's Apizza and Ristorante is another notable establishment. Outside New Haven (which houses Pepe's and Sally's, two warring pizza places, each with staunch supporters claiming that they serve the best pizza in the world) Mike's is as close as it gets to the best pizza. The number of pizza places in and around West Haven and New Haven is staggering³.

• Bars. West Haven has more bars per square foot than any other city in the USA. This is a fact, and more seem to open every month. On Campbell Avenue, one of the main roads in West Haven, there is a long-standing challenge. It is known as the Campbell Crawl, and it involves doing a shot of liquor and a glass of beer at every bar or tavern along the street from one end to the other. A conservative estimate of the number of bars on this road would be 20, and the number of people who have completed the challenge is most probably fewer than that. There is, of course, no official recognition for completion save the right to brag about the accomplishment among friends.

Statistics

• Population (2003) - 53,004
• Land area (sq miles) – 11
• Demographics (2000 Census): 74.1% White, 16.3% Black, 9.1%

For more West Haven statistics, visit the US Census Bureau.

New Haven

New Haven is a harbour town, and as such attracts that kind of business. New Haven, CT is the home of Yale University which was founded in 1701, a full 65 years after Harvard,⁴ the first university on the continent. Yale was founded to compete with Harvard and is a member of the Ivy League. Its medical school and hospital in New Haven are considered to be of the best in the US; the school is competitive and has an excellent reputation. It is also the only part of New Haven that does not look aged and grey. New Haven is an historic city and at the very least an important stop on the Amtrak train from Boston to New York City.

Louis's Lunch on 263 Crown Street, New Haven, claims to have invented the hamburger. That's right! In 1900 the unique upright grills of Louis's Lunch served up the very first hamburger for a customer in too much of a hurry to stay for his meal. The proprietor allegedly took the hamburger steak he had prepared and put it between two slices of toast to expedite the customer's lunch. Thus, the hamburger was born. In this Researcher's humble opinion, it is also the home of the best burger you will ever eat. They still cook using the antique, upright grills, and still serve up burgers on toasted bread with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese or any combination thereof. However, if you do ask for ketchup, they will refuse your request as they would like you to taste the burger first without the condiment⁵.

The New Haven Harbour was the landing point of the slave ship, the Amistad. The debacle that ensued took place in New Haven courthouses, and today there is a memorial replica of the ship in the harbour.

The first telephone book ever issued was published in New Haven by the New Haven District Telephone Company in February, 1878. It contained just 50 names.

Local Ghost Stories

The Union Trust building in New Haven was completed in 1928. Today it stands on the corner of Elm and Church Street as the Wachovia building.

This building has been the subject of many reported paranormal sightings, though nothing has been proved so far. Tourists do visit this building out of curiosity about the local tales.

Secrets of New Haven Green

It’s a bit odd that there aren't any ghost stories associated with New Haven Green - especially when you consider that over 5,000 of New Haven's earliest residents lie unmarked beneath all that grass.

The Green was used as a burial ground from the earliest days of the New Haven Colony. After severe yellow fever epidemics in 1794 and 1795, it was decided that the Green was simply too crowded to continue as the principal burial ground. In 1796, a new cemetery site was chosen, at what was then the edge of town. This became the Grove Street Cemetery, and its first burial took place in 1797.

Meanwhile, the burial ground on the Green continued to be used sporadically until 1812. At that time, the gravestones were moved from the Green to the perimeter of Grove Street Cemetery - but those New Haveners buried beneath them were never moved. It must be remembered that this was before concrete burial vaults, and those who had been buried generally could not be wholly recovered and moved elsewhere - so the remains lie there to this day.

Old maps and paintings of New Haven Green indicate the existence of a large columned building located behind Center Church. That building was the State House. Connecticut was the only state ever to have two state capitals from 1703 to 1875, those being New Haven and Hartford.

We should recall that New Haven had always been fiercely independent and self-sufficient; a charter from King Charles II in 1662 united New Haven - albeit uncomfortably - with the Connecticut Colony, otherwise known as Hartford. Unwilling to play second fiddle, New Haven insisted on being the state capital, as did Hartford. Somehow, both got what they wanted, and that arrangement lasted for 172 years.

Today as you walk around New Haven Green, you cannot find a single trace of the old State House or the old burying ground; they belong to another time, and that is where they will remain.

One final noteworthy aspect of the New Haven Green is the appearance of the image of Christ on the Cross on a tree at the centre of the Green⁶. The tree, if viewed from a specific angle, clearly harbours an image resembling Jesus Christ on the Cross. Another portion of the tree contains a knot which looks like the praying hands of the Virgin Mary or the Madonna.

Congregational Roots: The New Haven Colony

The New Haven Colony, settled in 1638, was the strictest of the colonies in its adherence to Puritanism; indeed, New Haven clung to the Puritan way of life long after it had disappeared elsewhere.

New Haven's 500 original settlers were the followers of the powerful and dynamic minister John Davenport, and his friend Theophilius Eaton. Together they had come to this area by way of Boston. Finding Boston too liberal-thinking for their ultra-conservative tastes, the group travelled again by ship to Quinnipiac, and settled there, renaming it New Haven.

It was the dream of this group to escape English persecution and establish a church-run, theocratic, model community that would set an example for the other colonies and for England. In the words of Puritan minister John Winthrop, 'We shall be as a city on a hill, and the eyes of the world will be upon us.'

Built around nine square blocks, New Haven was the first 'planned community' in the colonies. With its natural harbour, New Haven was predestined to become a thriving commercial centre.

For 28 years, New Haven existed as an independent colony, until it was annexed by the Connecticut Colony in 1665. This change was not popular with the Puritans, but by now they were no longer alone in the colony that they had founded.

Fearing the secularisation and religious dilution that they expected would evolve in the settlement, the Puritans migrated once again, and established what today is known as Newark, New Jersey. It is noted that historically, this repeated migration was normal behaviour among Puritans in the Colonies, who often moved again and again.

The community that the Puritans had established in New Haven did not crumble when they moved on; instead it grew and flourished. In New Haven, where once Puritanism had prevailed, Congregationalism began to take root.

A Notable Citizen: Nathan Hale

'It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. '
- General Douglas MacArthur

Hale's contemporaries described him as kind, gentle, religious, athletic, intelligent, good looking, and in the words of one friend, 'the idol of all his acquaintances.' It is said that all the girls of New Haven were in love with this tall and fair young man; they were impressed by his athletic ways, his good looks and his strong Christian ideals.

Born in 1755, Nathan Hale was the sixth of ten surviving children of the landed Deacon Richard Hale, of Coventry, in north-central Connecticut. By the time he was 14, young Nathan and his brother Enoch had enrolled at Yale College; he would graduate with honours at the age of 18.

The cosmopolitan atmosphere of New Haven agreed with Nathan much more than the perceived boredom of pastoral life in Coventry; here he was exposed to many new, progressive ideas which were hotly debated by his contemporaries: astronomy, mathematics, literature, the ethics of slavery, and the questioned value of educating young women. Meetings were held in New College, the only dormitory at Yale that Nathan Hale frequented which is still standing. Today, it is called Connecticut Hall, and a statue of Nathan Hale stands in front of it.

Today, if you visit Nathan Hale's homestead in Coventry, you will find that the red farmhouse and the surrounding grounds, lined with ancient stone walls, are almost exactly as he would have known them. The only sound you'll hear is that of the wind rustling the leaves on the old trees surrounding his father's farmhouse. Hale last visited home while on leave in 1776; he was bound for New York, a trip from which he would not return.

While returning from his intelligence mission for George Washington's army, Hale was captured, identified as a spy, and sentenced to death by General William Howe. At his execution, Nathan Hale asked for a Bible, but his request was refused. He was marched out by a guard and hanged upon an apple tree in a place called Rutgers's Orchard; near the present New York City intersection of East Broadway and Market Streets. At the hanging, the British commander asked him to make his dying 'speech and confession.' 'I only regret,' Hale said, 'that I have but one life to lose for my country.'

Statistics

• Population (2003) - 124,512
• Land area (sq miles) – 19
• Demographics (2000 Census): 43.5% White, 37.4% Black, 21.4% Hispanic

For more New Haven statistics, visit the US Census Bureau.