The Crypt at Center Church - Halloween Series

Underneath Center Church on the Green in New Haven is a burial ground that dates back to the 1600's. The church was built over the burial ground, and the graves were all left exactly how they were. You can go down into the crypt and look at the tombstones, and learn about the history of the crypt. The crypt is only open on Saturdays from 11am-1pm from April through October, so make sure you plan accordingly. Tour guides are available, although I think you can do a self-guided tour if you would prefer that. My tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable about the crypt and the church itself. She explained everything in great detail and made me feel almost like an expert on the area. If you want to get an in depth knowledge of the crypt, I would recommend the tour - however most of the information can also be found on their website - http://centerchurchonthegreen.org/history/crypt/. This is certainly one of those places that appears to be creepy before you go, but is actually quite interesting.

Here are my top 5 tips for if you want to visit The Crypt -
1) Please be extremely careful down here. All of the tombstones are old, so that makes them incredibly fragile. Most of them have seen their fair share of damage due to the conditions in the crypt. Do not touch them, just look.
2) When you go down the stairs, just watch your footing as the staircase is kind of narrow.
3) The ceiling is low, so you need to crouch down in some spots. Also, if you suffer from claustrophobia - I would recommend you sit this one out.
4) Lighting is dim, so if you want to take pictures make sure you do so with a decent camera - and then you can edit the lighting in photo shop if you need to.
5) The directions on how to get in were kind of confusing. On the GPS it led to this one church, that I guess is technically considered to be a part of the area - however, the crypt was nowhere to be found there. I ended up walking down the street a bit before I found the right church - and they had signs out front indicating that the crypt was open for tours. Just look out for the signs, and you will know that you are in the right place.