The New Haven Green in downtown New Haven, a city in Connecticut, USA, is a small park of about 16 acres. Being surrounded by buildings of the Yale University, courthouses, the New Haven Free Public Library and numerous municipal and commercial structures, the park stays typically busy throughout the day. During public events such as classical music and jazz concerts, and art festivals, which the Green regularly holds, the crowd can swell to hundreds of thousands. For some who are aware of the park’s legacy, this is somewhat disturbingly morbid.

The Green was built in 1638 and was originally conceived as a trade center and town square, and was in fact known as "the marketplace". This common land at the heart of the thriving commercial port was used for various purposes. It was the site of the first meetinghouse. It contained the town's watch house, the jail, and the first school. The Green also held a succession of statehouses and was used as parade grounds for the New Haven militia. Unbelievably, there was still room left in the Green to bury people.

Photo credit: centerchurchonthegreen.org