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We Are Gearing Up For A Busy Month of Bioregional Activities!
Hope You Can Join Us!
- Special History Walk of Paupers' Cemetery and the Story of New Haven's Last Slave Auction, March 8
- Seal Sleuthing Expedition: Tracing the Path of New Haven's Wayward Seal "Chappy", March 15 (morning)
- West River Memorial Park Walk Audit, March 15 (afternoon)
- Yale Nature Preserve Walk: The Mystery of the Inflatable Foam House, March 23
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New Haven Bioregional Group
Connecting New Haveners
to Their Life-Place
Since 2005
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* Special History Walk *
Exploring New Haven's Historic Blake Street Paupers' Cemetery and the Life of Lois Tritton
Saturday, March 8, 2025
10-11 AM
Walk will begin at
Jewell Street, New Haven (Across from the L.W. Beecher School)
** Honoring Lois Tritton and Commemorating New Haven's Last Slave Auction
at the Historic Blake Street Cemetery **
On March 8, 1825, the last known auction of enslaved people ever to happen in New Haven (and possibly the entire state of Connecticut) took place on the New Haven Green, as Lois and Lucy Tritton were sold to Anthony Sanford for $10. We will commemorate the 200th anniversary of this baleful occasion by placing a marker and flowers at the grave of Lois Tritton who was laid to rest in Blake Street Cemetery in 1894 at the age of 95.
Family historian, genealogist and longtime friend of the Bioregional Group Sherill Baldwin will share her extensive research on the Tritton family as well as on Blake Street Cemetery itself, a small "paupers' cemetery" set aside for indigent burials adjacent to the larger Westville and Mishkan Israel Cemeteries. Over 2100 people were buried at Blake Street between the early 1880s to 1931, when another cemetery for indigent burials was established farther out in West Rock. For the last year Sherill has been uncovering and sharing the stories of New Haveners buried at Blake Street online at her website "Buried Stories," including the fascinating stories of John Bray, Edward Ditymus, in addition to the Tritton family.
Aaron Goode of the Bioregional Group and Walk New Haven Cultural Heritage Tours will discuss the history of poor farms, almshouses, and paupers' cemeteries in New Haven, as well as ongoing community efforts to preserve and restore these sites (particularly those set aside for burial of the indigent) as places of dignity, respect and tranquility.
Directions: The tour will start on Jewell Street at 10am, from which we will walk over to Blake Street and enter the Westville Cemetery’s Blake Street entrance.
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 and if children attend, should be respectful of this sacred space.
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* Bioregional Seal Sleuthing Expedition *
On the Trail (or Tail) of "Chappy" -- How Did New Haven's Wayward Gray Seal Get to Wooster Square? And Why?
Saturday, March 15, 2025
8:30 AM
Meet at Canal Dock Boathouse
475 Long Wharf Drive, New Haven
How did New Haven's now-famous wayward seal get to Chapel Street from New Haven harbor? And why did it undertake such a hazardous journey?
Join us for a special bioregional investigation led by master seal sleuth Chris Ozyck. We will trace the path taken by the seal from the harbor, under the highway, where it crossed East Street and passed through a parking lot up to Chapel (depending on weather, we may even be able to see some of the original seal tracks underneath the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge). We will discuss some of the various theories, both plausible and less plausible, about why the young seal ventured out so far from the water.
We will also be joined by faculty members of the University of New Haven's marine sciences department who will give us an expert perspective on New Haven harbor as an active habitat for marine mammals.
Meanwhile Aaron Goode from the Bioregional Group will discuss the history of New Haven's "Dragon Point," the historic community at the mouth of the Quinnipiac River that was named after a community of large harbor seals living in New Haven's rich estuaries; current water quality issues affecting marine life in the harbor; and the ongoing development of a Shoreline Greenway Trail in New Haven that will allow residents to experience the waterfront and its wildlife in new and exciting ways.
Hope you can join us for this seal sleuthing adventure!
RSVP and share the Facebook event here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1401337311273221
Parking is available on Long Wharf Drive. We will convene on the plaza next to the boathouse. RSVPs appreciated but not required.
For more info, contact Aaron (Aaron.goode@gmail.com or 203-350-3795).
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West River Memorial Park Walk Audit:
Help Us Improve WRMP Access & Safety!
Saturday, March 15, 2025
1-3PM
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The West River Memorial Park Renewal Team, West River Watershed Coalition, New Haven Coalition for Active Transportation, Friends of the West River Peace Garden and the Bioregional Group are excited to invite you to a Walk Audit at West River Memorial Park, where we will explore the area together, assess walkability, and discuss ways to improve safety, accessibility, and overall user experience.
Date: Saturday, March 15th 2025
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: West River Memorial Park, Yale & Derby Ave
This is a great opportunity to observe the built environment, share insights, and contribute to making our neighborhoods and the West River watershed safer and more accessible. Whether you're a resident, urban planner, or just passionate about better public spaces, we’d love to have you join the conversation!
You can get more information at this Facebook event page:
https://facebook.com/events/s/west-river-park-walking-audit/622157547197810/
Please invite others who might be interested!
Looking forward to seeing you there.
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* Yale Nature Preserve Hike *
Explore One of New Haven's Least-Known Open Spaces While Visiting the Mysterious Ruins of an Experimental Inflatable Foam House
Sunday, March 23, 2025
1:30 PM
Meet at Maltby Lakes RWA Property
Derby Turnpike, West Haven
When combined with Maltby Lakes and the undeveloped portion of the Yale Golf Course, the Yale Nature Preserve forms one of the largest open spaces in New Haven (and its immediately abutting inner suburbs), more than twice the size of East Rock Park. But it is also one of the least visited parks or open spaces in the New Haven area, and even longtime residents of nearby neighborhoods like Westville may never have visited this unique property.
Join the Bioregional Group to explore this fascinating and scenic open space where you can find spectacular geological formations, vernal wetlands, mature upland forest, and plentiful wildlife. On this hike we will also visit the fabulous and mysterious ruins of an experimental inflatable foam house built by Yale architect Felix Drury and his students in 1968 (see image below).
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When combined with Maltby Lakes and the undeveloped portion of the Yale Golf Course, the Yale Nature Preserve forms one of the largest open spaces in New Haven (and its immediately abutting inner suburbs), more than twice the size of East Rock Park. But it is also one of the least visited parks or open spaces in the New Haven area, and even longtime residents of nearby neighborhoods like Westville may never have visited this unique property.
Join the Bioregional Group to explore this fascinating and scenic open space where you can find spectacular geological formations, vernal wetlands, mature upland forest, and plentiful wildlife. On this hike we will also visit the fabulous and mysterious ruins of an experimental inflatable foam house built by Yale architect Felix Drury and his students in 1968 (see image below).
Ecologists from the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority will join us to discuss watershed management issues and challenges.
This one-of-a-kind bioregional adventure is not to be missed!
We will be meeting in the parking lot of the Regional Water Authority property that is accessed from the westbound lanes of the Derby Turnpike in West Haven. You do not need to be a RWA recreational permit-holder to come on the hike but because of the access restrictions to this property, we do require registration for this event.
Please note this is a longer walk of approximately 4-5 miles, and there are some uneven surfaces. To get to the foam house requires some bushwhacking and crossing of streams and muddy areas, so please dress appropriately and bring appropriate footwear.
Contact Aaron with questions (Aaron.goode@gmail.com or 203-350-3795).
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Earth Loyalty & Bioregional Practice
Selected Writings of Fred Cervin
by New Haven - Quinnipiac Bioregional Group, 2015
Publisher: New Haven Bioregional Publications
ISBN 978-0-9908460-0-0
90 pages, 9"x 6" format $12
From the book's preface by Mark Mitsock:
"Fred Cervin believed that the relation of the human species to the natural world is in a state of crisis, and that this crisis has both a practical and spiritual dimension. The practical and the spiritual are typically thought to operate on separate planes, but in Fred's vision they
are seamlessly blended ..."
It's obviously from his very first poem "Three Medicine Songs" that Fred Cervin was a dedicated bioregionalist and activist who walked his talk.
In 2005 he co-founded the New Haven Bioregional Group in his local New Haven, Connecticut to put his ideas into action. Fred died in August 2013, but the Group is carrying on his work and perpetuating Cervin's life-place ideas and actions by producing this book of his writings for all of us and future generations.
Again and again throughout Earth Loyalty & Bioregional Practice, Cervin is resolute in his dedication to honoring the Earth and living in harmony with ALL of its occupants. In his Earth Loyalty As A Spiritual Orientation / Queen of My Heart he strongly urges everyone to make a vow to the Earth to live with love, consideration and respect in each of our places
as he does in his.
Cervin's poems are lyrical and filled with his heartfelt connection with the land, they strongly flow together in clearly presenting a variety of vitally important aspects of his life view. In his prose, he provides his thoughts on the critical state of the environment and its causes while also offering solutions, i.e. from growing one's own food to redefining our sense of who we are as humans, to reestablishing mutually beneficial relationships with the Earth
and everyone inhabiting the planet to rebuilding and maintaining strong communities in which communication, cooperation...as well as good home grown meals...are engaged in
and shared by all community members.
The context of Cervin's poems and prose resides in his awareness of and distress at the current state of the planet and how Earth continues to be plundered by profit-seeking individuals and corporations. This is Fred Cervin's wake up call to all of us to step back from our consumerism and reconnect with Mother Earth who freely provides everything
that we need. It is an urgent plea on his part and well worth our focused attention and
active participation.
by Jean Lindgren
Reprinted here with the permission of Planet Drum PULSE where this
review originally appeared in their Spring/Summer 2016 issue.
Planet Drum, PO Box 31251, SF, CA 94131
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