New Haven Notables: The Dead Shall Be Raised Tour and More

New Haven, Conn. (September 14, 2026) –What do a female astronomer, a famous inventor, and New Haven’s first mayor all have in common? They’re all interred in the world-renowned Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven and will be included in the “New Haven Notables: The Dead Shall Be Raised Tour” offered by New Haven Museum in collaboration with the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery on Saturday, October 24, 2026. Tours will be offered at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Space is limited for these small group tours. Register here.

On same day, from 12-4 p.m., the New Haven Museum will host its newest “What’s In the Whitney Library” event, with a look at the records for Grove Street Cemetery, the Thomas Philips Monument Company, and New Haven's stone engravers. Visitors can explore maps, illustrations, and papers of some of the historical figures in Grove Street Cemetery, including Noah Webster, Roger Sherman, and James Hillhouse.

Inspired by the Egyptian Revivalist gate at Grove Street Cemetery which bears the inscription “The Dead Shall Be Raised,” the cemetery tours will visit the gravesites of remarkable people buried in Grove Street cemetery and highlight their achievements and explore the site’s history and noteworthy monuments.

The tours will include such notables as:

• Ida Barney (1886 - 1982) American astronomer who spent most of her career at the Yale University Observatory, best known for her astrometric measurements on 150,000 stars.

• Eli Whitney (1765 - 1825), Noted New Haven inventor.

• Noah Webster (1758 - 1843), Lexicographer, dictionary publisher.

• Roger Sherman (1721 - 1793), First mayor of New Haven and the only person to have signed all four basic documents of American sovereignty, including the Declaration of Independence.

• Martha Townsend (1753 - 1797), First person interred in Grove Street Cemetery.

• John Warner Barber (1798 -1885), Noted Connecticut engraver.

Three docents from the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery will lead the tours:

• Darlene Casella is a member of the board of directors of the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery. She became a docent in 2006 and is currently the chief docent and tour program coordinator at the cemetery. She gives general and private tours upon request for a variety of organizations.

• Daniel Lovins is a member of the board of directors of the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery and has volunteered as a docent for this national historic landmark for many years. He appears in the 2007 documentary, "Grove Street Cemetery: City of the Dead, City of the Living." He serves as Yale Library's Director of Resource Discovery Services.

• Cindy Leffell is a member of Grove Street Cemetery’s standing committee. In addition to being a docent, she has also served as president of the Eli Whitney Museum, a Foote School board member and volunteer archivist, and as a Peabody Museum docent. She is a board member of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven and The Towers at Tower Lane.