Weird New England Continued: The Crypt

I woke up today and since it wasn't raining I decided to drag my hubby and my sister-in-law on an adventure!  I thought it was about time to make another stop on my Wierd New England tour.

Our stop today was the Center Church in New Haven CT.  It is one of the only churches in the USA with a cemetery in the basement.  The church was beautiful and the cemetery was, well... why don't I just show you. =)  

Can't start the day without Dunkin Donuts... not only is there like 50 in every town in New england, but they are also delicious!

He's just mad cuz he can't have any.

I think she likes it!

The facade of the church was very New-Englandy... yes that's right... i said New-Englandy!

Suzanne was concerned about the appearance of evil, ok so she only joked about it... but really she had hot chocolate in her cup. =)

Back in the day, people paid a yearly fee to save their spot at church... can you imagine having to pay for the place you sit?  Well, this particular pew once belonged to the great Eli Whitney, the inventor of the............ Cotton Gin!

I know Dave doesn't really like all the creepy stuff I am into, but he is so sweet to come with me!  I am so lucky!

Just in case you get lost...

Ok, this tombstone baffles me... there is a letter on here that makes no sense and makes the words seem silly.  It looks like an "f" but it can't be because there are lots of normal "f's" on there.  I also thought it could be an "s" but there are normal "s's" on there too. Click on the pic to make it bigger and see if you can figure it out!

Because the headstones are indoors they are protected from the elements that would normally erase the lines used by the engraver.  

Sarah Trowbridge was the first person buried in the cemetery, she died when she was 46.  I don't know if you can tell, but the engraver didn't measure very well.  He ran out of room so he just started carving her name around the stone.

Our tour guide was great, but he kept moving whenever I tried to take his picture. So, I was sneaky... muhahaha!

I know it is faded, but this really was a sundial!  Its like primitive CSI... the coroner made sure time of death was written in stone!

Ok, this is a popular theme of the tombstones.  Supposedly it is the angel of death.  The things floating out of their heads are wings... not deformed ears.  As you can see they evolved from being more like death, to more like an angel.  I find the transition hilarious. Number 3 is my favorite, check out his nose... is that a nose ring, or a booger?

Here's one of me, I am always hesitant to give up my camera... I like being behind the lens, not in front of it!

Poor Dave, he didn't see the sign...

Next stop: The Chef's Emporium 

Dave saw a sign advertising this discount chef's store on the way home, so we stopped!  It was really cool!  The best part tho, were the funny statues.  They were all over!

Finally: Lunch!

I saw a sign for German food. 'Nuff said!

The food was pretty good, I had chicken schnitzel and Spätzle. For those of you who don't know, Spätzle is a noodle like dumpling.

Dessert was black forest cake.  It was delicious!

It was a great day!  To see more pics of the beautiful church, and the Tiffany window... That's right... the church had a TIFFANY stained glass window!... just click here.