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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Old school’s the new cool in New Haven


Courtesy Omni New Haven Hotel

Yale’s aura
In New Haven, Yale surrounds.

Walking tours are a good introduction to the campus, its residential colleges and mysteries like why there are few halls of ivy at this Ivy League school.

“It’s been taken down because it damages the exterior of buildings,” said Claire Daviss, a student guide. “Now it grows on the ground.”

Tours take in Sterling Memorial Library, Yale’s towering cathedral of learning, and its stained-glass windows, 4 million books and circulation desk modeled after an altar.

In front of the library, Maya Lin’s sculpture “Women’s Table” traces the enrollment of women students at Yale. Her design for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington was a senior project while she was a student at Yale.

A wealth of resources
Depending on a group’s interest, there are many ways to draw on Yale’s resources.

For years, Sheila Cook planned events for Yale presidents and the alumni office. Now a consultant, she has many ideas.

“A group interested in architecture might take a gargoyle tour,” she said. “Engineers might visit the engineering department to see what people here are working on.”

Or a group might choose to “dine with dinosaurs” at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History,
Those looking for more active pursuits might arrange for tennis at the indoor courts, do some early-morning rowing at the Boathouse or skate on the ice rink at the Whale, an Eero Saarinen building that resembles one.

Yale does not have a conference center, so during summer months, educational or nonprofit groups might arrange to stay in one of Yale’s residential colleges. Meetings can be held in a classroom building such as Linsly-Chittenden Hall, with its Tiffany glass window. Yale’s conference and event services office handles arrangements.

Local efforts

In 2009, Connecticut cut funding to all but three of the state’s convention and visitors bureaus.  New Haven’s CVB was one of those eliminated, but  soon a  local economic development initiative, Regional Economic Xcelleration (REX), was formed to replace it. Led by former CVB president Ginny Kozlowski, its tourism arm encourages people to “Visit New Haven.”

“REX raises funds, does site tours, solves problems and promotes tourism,” Kozlowski said. “We figure it out.”

As I wandered around this town of 125,000, I saw what she meant. New Haven is fitting disparate parts of itself together in new ways: experimenting, rebuilding and reinventing.

Although it wasn’t easy to get my arms around New Haven, when I did, I found it disarming.