National Visit-A-Cemetery Day: Historic Blake Street Paupers' Cemetery Tour

Name: National Visit-A-Cemetery Day: Historic Blake Street Paupers' Cemetery Tour
Start: 2025-10-26T13:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-26T14:30:00-04:00
Location: Jewell Street New Haven

Schedule

Sun Oct 26 2025 at 01:00 pm to 02:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Jewell Street New Haven | New Haven, CT

Join us for a special National Visit-A-Cemetery Day program with a guided walking tour led by an expert genealogist of the rarely-visited historic Blake Street Paupers' Cemetery in the Westville section of New Haven.
What is a so-called paupers' cemetery, how many are there in New Haven, how did they evolve in the context of New Haven's social history, and how are they governed and managed today? We will seek to answer some of these questions, along with exploring the fascinating lives of some of the people buried here at Blake Street, such as Lois Tritton, the last person to be sold in a public auction of enslaved people in New Haven in 1825.
The walking tour will be followed by an (optional) clean-up of this neglected space to help bring dignity and peace to those interred here.
~ ABOUT THE TOUR ~
Sherill Baldwin, a family historian and genealogist and Aaron Goode of Walk New Haven Cultural Heritage Tours will offer a walking tour of Blake Street Cemetery in Westville. Originally the poor man’s section of the Westville Cemetery, Blake Street is unusual in that it has many full-sized headstones and few with names of who is buried there. Ms. Baldwin, a family historian and genealogist, has been researching people buried at Blake Street Cemetery, specifically those of African descent. Over 2100 people were buried at Blake Street from about 1881 to 1931; come hear the fascinating stories she has uncovered.
October 26 is also “Visit a Cemetery Day,” a day to embrace changing seasons, connect to our ancestors and take in the beauty and peace of cemeteries. In honor of this day and in remembrance of those buried at Blake Street, following the walk will be a litter clean up. If there are enough people, we can expand the cleanup into other adjacent cemeteries, such as Westville and Congregational Mishkan Israel.
Directions: The tour will start on Jewell Street at 1pm, from which we will walk over to Blake Street and enter the Westville Cemetery’s Blake Street entrance. Please wear proper shoes, bring water, hat, sunscreen, and bug spray if needed. Please also bring gloves and a trash bag if you plan to stay for the litter cleanup.
Parking: Either side of Jewell Street, between Whalley Avenue and Blake Street. Please do not park inside the Mishkan Israel or Westville Cemeteries.
Accessibility: The terrain is a bit rough at this cemetery with no aisle-ways. We ask you to recognize this tour is at a cemetery, a place for reflection; children and adults should be respectful of this sacred space.
Sponsored by Walk New Haven Cultural Heritage Tours, Greater New Haven African-American Historical Society (GNHAAHS) and the New Haven Bioregional Group.