Allie Douma and Hadley Tallackson

Gravestones from the New Haven Green:

Map of New Haven Green and its uses in 1775. See building 5: “Burying Ground.”
Buildings, grounds and landmarks in New Haven photographs. 100s. Box 1. Folder 6. Yale University Archives, Pictorial Records and Collections. 22 Oct 2024.

Rubbings of Grove Street Cemetery created by Robert Greenberg in 2012 and displayed in Lost in New Haven Museum. Photo taken January 22, 2025.
We start with where New Haven’s history began. On the New Haven Green, six inches below your feet, the bones of 8-10,000 bodies lie restlessly. Since the creation of the Green in 1641, the upper portion of the square served as a cemetery. In 1794, when yellow fever resulted in widespread death and loss throughout the town, mortality necessitated more land. This led to the creation of the Grove Street cemetery, the first chartered burial ground in the U.S. The stone rubbings of gravestones shown above are from stones 300 years old. The top images of the stone display classic Puritan imagery of the era: skulls with wings, created in rejection of Catholic symbolism.
The legacy of historical death in New Haven turns up in modern interactions with the land. Today, the Green serves many functionalities for today’s residents of the city, but for some, this is always in contention with what rests beneath. While the Green serves as the city’s anchoring public space, it is privately owned by five proprietors whose ownership stems from the town’s origination in the 1640s. The Proprietors now seek to revamp the Green, and have sought public comment on what residents would like to see. But, plans must contend with the truth of shallow bones. What we bury still remains.
The “gravestones” featured in the museum are actually replicas of the originals which were used in a protest in 2012. In 2012, protestors took to the green for the occupy wall street movement. Robert Greenberg placed these gravestones on the green to remind protestors that people were lying just beneath them and to encourage them to be have respect for the space. Many protests have happened on the green since and I’m sure will continue to. The green is symbol for remembering the past and those who have come before, but also as it has transformed to a community space that reminds us of why we need each other.

Photo of the Crypt from Center Church on the Green.

Photo of the Crypt from Center Church on the Green.
Resources for this section:
- New Haven Independent, Green Remakers Face Grave Question. Laura Glesby, December 2024.
- Grove Street Cemetery, History of the Cemetery.
- Yale Daily News, New Haven’s Skeletons. Maddie Bender, November 2018.
Bones

Photo of article about bones uncovered on the green, taken from Lost in New Haven.

Photo of bone pile from Lost in New Haven.
While walking around the museum we noticed the remnants of decay and death throughout the entire space. It may feel morbid to think about how death surrounds us, but those who have lived here in the past can remain with us. In a bigger sense all of these artifacts in the museum are sort of like bones. Maybe not animal or human bones, but skeletons of past industry, past lives, and past histories.

We found two main exhibits featuring bones. The first featured is just the picture of an article about Superstorm Sandy tearing through New Haven in 2012, and uprooting a tree on the Green. It turns out that those buried on the green are only about 6 inches deep, just a thin layer of grass keeping us apart. The New Haven green is still home to many other bodies, since it was the only graveyard for a period of time, before they moved the graveyard to Grove Street, there are bodies almost every six inches. The bones were actually discovered by someone who had been protesting with occupy wall street earlier that year. They knew that there was a cemetery on the green because of Robert Greenberg’s demonstration on the green. The bones are presumed to be folks that were buried close to the 1790s, right before the city stopped burying people on the green. It is assumed that most of the bodies uncovered were people impacted by yellow fever or other diseases impacting the area in the 1790s.
The second homage to bones is simply a pile of bones tucked into the back corner of the museum surrounded by rocks and other items typically buried away. We were not able to ask why these bones are there and what they are from, but still they remind us of what had been here before us. These bones left us wondering – who do they belong to and why were they uncovered? It seems that these bones should be back where they were buried, safe in their resting place.

To connect this piece even more to historical threads in New Haven, the tree that was torn down in the storm is the tree that was planted in 1909 to commemorate Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday. Along with the bodies two time capsules from when the tree was planted were uprooted. The time capsules included “medallions, newspapers, a grapeshot ball and a bullet from the battlefield at Gettysburg. The other time capsule contained coins, letters, roster lists and a medal from the Grand Army of the Republic.” The tree itself is a memorial to someone we lost.
Information for this section retrieved from:
New Haven Independent, Skeletal Remains Found In Upended Tree; The Death Investigator Exhumes Skull. Thomas MacMillan and Melissa Bailey, October 2012.
Yale Alumni Magazine. The Lincoln Tree and the Bones. Judith Schiff. April 2013.
New Haven Register. Fallen Tree on New Haven Green unearths what ay be more than one human skeleton. Liam Kaempffer and Randall Beach. October, 2012.
Dia de Los Muertos Sculptures

“The dead are what connect us all” – CJ, Founder of Black and Brown United in Action
Memorials of the dead can also remind us of how we are connected. Our shared humanity is something to celebrate and protect. The Dia de Los Muertos sculptures tucked into the back corner of Lost in New Haven not only celebrate the holiday, but also pay homage to the 23 victims of gun violence that the city lost in 2021. Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA) invited Pedro Lopez, a Guatemalan artist to help build these skeletons for the Día de Muertos parade. Just like those who we have lost, no sculpture is like another. Lopez wanted those at the parade not only to think about those that they have lost, but also wanted people to think about the differences in how death is covered. He states “disparity in coverage and attention that she sees between high-profile murder cases and poor city residents who have been shot and killed.” Many of the unresolved murders are Latino, Black, and/or undocumented immigrants. While this event was in 2021, the themes and issues still persist. 14 people were killed by gun violence in 2024.
These skeletons remind us to celebrate those who have passed and to continue fighting for those that remain. As Lopez said with art “Through art, through color, we can touch on themes that are very sensitive… but not in a cold way, the way it’s portrayed in the news. Through art, we can create consciousness about what’s happening.” Similar to how gravestones remind us of those who have passed, these skeletons remind us of what is presently impacting and devastating our communities.
The artist was also intentional about the materials used “everything is recycled—including puppets from years past that may need a new coat of paint or repaired limbs. The skeletons are no exception, made from recycled cardboard and bamboo.” The reuse of materials is akin to how our bodies are returned and reused.

Sources for this section:
Arts Council Greater New Haven. With Skeletons and Stories, ULA prepare for Día de Muertos Parade. Lucy Gellman. November 2021.
Stones

Box of Stones from Lost in New Haven.

Arrowheads from unconfirmed location (possibly including Quarry Park?) at Lost in New Haven.
Throughout Lost in New Haven, there is a scattering of stone collections. Arrowheads, stone relics from defunct buildings, and larger chunks of stones pulled from various spots in the city. Some of these may have been sourced from the former quarry in the city.
East of the Quinnipiac River in Fair Haven Heights is Quarry Park. From 1700 to 1900, this former quarry was the largest quarrying operation in the region. No machine power was used – only human and animal power. “If you ever see a building [in New Haven] that’s dark red or chalk, chances are it’s from this quarry,” Daniel May, professor at University of New Haven
The land on which the park and former quarry sits is also historically significant in another sense. The initial colonisation of New Haven led to the creation of the first de facto “Indian reservation,” when the Quinnipiac were forced out of the land settlers claimed. The Quinnipiac were then told they could occupy the region where Quarry Park now sits, due to the land’s inability to be used for Puritan farming purposes. Once the potential of quarrying was realized, though, the Quinnipiac were once again forcibly removed. This removal led to another decline in the indigenous tribe’s population. The last of the Quinnipiac died in 1850.
Now, the park is city-owned and open to the public. It preserves a geological time capsule of the land, and is the foundation of stories representing significant chapters in New Haven’s history.

Photo via New Haven Independent, Quarry Hikers Rock Out. 2024.

Decorated ruins of Rocky Hill Stone Company’s former operations in Quarry Park. Image via Tom Riley, published on goxplr
Information and quotations for this section retrieved from:
New Haven Independent, Quarry Hikers Rock Out. Brian Slattery, February 2024.