Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, Bezoekersgids & wat te doen in de buurt

Trinity Church on the Green is an Episcopal church on the New Haven Green in New Haven, Connecticut, at the corner of Temple and Chapel Streets. Designed by Ithiel Town and built in 1814 and 1815, it is often described as the first fully Gothic Revival church in North America, and it stands out among the neighbouring churches on the Green.

The story behind it

Trinity grew from an Anglican parish that had a difficult start in a town dominated by the Puritan tradition. Its first church was a wooden building put up in the 1750s, in a city that was not welcoming to a rival denomination.

The stone church you see now came during the War of 1812. Ithiel Town, who was also an accomplished bridge builder, drew up the plans, and the walls were laid in local New Haven trap rock. It is a dense reddish-brown stone, and its colour shifts with the light and the weather, so the church can look warm on a sunny afternoon and much darker after rain.

What to look for

• The reddish-brown trap rock of the walls, which changes colour with sun and rain, so look at it from a few angles on the Green.
• The pointed Gothic arches of the windows, a bold look in 1815, when most American churches followed classical or Georgian styles.
• The contrast with the nearby churches on the Green, which makes the differences in style between them easy to read.
• The corner position at Temple and Chapel Streets, where the Green meets the busy streets of downtown New Haven.

Tips for your visit

• Plan on 10 to 15 minutes for the exterior and the setting. Allow longer if you go inside.
• It is an active church, so check current opening hours and service times before hoping to see the interior.
• Soft morning or late afternoon light shows off the colour of the stone best.
• The Green is a short walk from the Yale campus and the shops and cafes of Chapel Street, so it fits easily into a wider stroll.

See it on a quest

Ghost Hunt in New Haven is a good way to meet the church on foot. You reach it as one stop on a longer route through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like.

New Haven Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. takes a secret society theme through the same part of the city. The church is one stop along the way, with the app telling you about it as you get there and a puzzle waiting in what is in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group, with no guide to book and no group to join.