Colchester, Connecticut

Colchester is a census-designated place (CDP) comprising the primary village and adjacent residential land in the town of Colchester, New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is in the east-central part of the town, with the Connecticut Route 2 expressway running through the south side of the community. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a population of 4,781, out of 16,068 in the entire town of Colchester. 75 acres (30 ha) at the center of the village comprise the Colchester Village Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The Hayward House is a historic house at 9 Hayward Avenue in Colchester, Connecticut. Built in 1775 and embellished in the late 19th century, it is a well-preserved 18th-century house, which has seen a number of locally prominent residents, as well as the nationally known inventor Nathaniel Hayward, who developed the process of vulcanizing rubber. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The Colchester Village Historic District encompasses most of the historic village center of Colchester, Connecticut. It is located at the junction of Route 16, Route 85, and Norwich Avenue (old Route 2). Roughly, the district extends to the northwest along Broadway Street (Route 85) as far as Jaffe Terrace; east along Norwich Avenue to just short of Pleasant Street; south along South Main Street to just north of Hall Hill Road; west along Linwood Avenue (Route 16) to just east of Kmick Lane. The historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1994. The Colchester Town Green is located at the center of the district. Several commercial, residential and civic buildings mostly from the 19th century, surround the green, with the Colchester Federated Church in the Greek Revival style and the Bacon Academy (built in 1803 and separately listed on the NRHP) being the dominant structures. The Hayward House (built in 1767 and separately listed on the NRHP) is located on Hayward Avenue across the street from the green and is now being used as a bed and breakfast. Wheeler Block, the original town hall and also listed separately on the NRHP, is located across the green to the south on Norwich Avenue.Colchester was incorporated in 1698 and was at first a dispersed agricultural community. The village center formed around the town's first colonial meeting house and burying ground, with the area's economic importance later cemented by its location as a crossroads of several early 19th century turnpikes. Bacon Academy was founded in 1803 as the region's first secondary school, and the town was home to the first Masonic lodge in the region (founded 1782). In the second half of the 19th century, the village benefited from the rise of small industries, prompting the construction of a number of commercial buildings, including the fine Second Empire Wheeler Block.

The Bacon Academy, nicknamed Old Bacon Academy, was the original Bacon Academy. The Old Bacon Academy was built in 1803 and is located at 84 Main Street, Colchester, Connecticut. The main structure is a 70 feet (21 m) long by 34 feet (10 m) wide three-story Flemish bond brick structure with Federal style details. Noted for its plain, utilitarian floor plan consisting of two rooms off a central hall and stairway, the inside has seen some renovations throughout its history. The Day Hall, a contributing property purchased by the Bacon Academy trustees in 1929, is a church hall that was used for the high school until 1962. Originally operating as a white male school, Bacon Academy integrated nonwhite children around 1833 and began to educate women in 1842. The school has educated important figures like Edwin Denison Morgan, Morgan Bulkeley, William A. Buckingham, Lyman Trumbull, and Morrison Waite. Due to the structure's utilitarian style combined with its Federal details, the National Register of Historic Places recognizes it as architecturally significant. Currently, the Old Bacon Academy building is used as part of an alternative education program and Day Hall is used as a nursery. The properties were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The Wheeler Block, also known as the Old Town Hall and the former Ransom School, is a historic civic and commercial building at 40 Norwich Avenue in Colchester, Connecticut. Built in 1872, it is a good local example of Second Empire architecture, seeing a variety of civic and commercial uses. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 1993.

Colchester Public Schools, also known as Colchester School District, is a school district in Colchester, Connecticut, United States.

Bacon Academy is a public high school in Colchester, Connecticut, in the United States. In 1800 a prominent Colchester farmer, Pierpont Bacon, died and left an endowment of thirty-five thousand dollars (with buying power equivalent to that of about two million dollars in 2009). The endowment was to the inhabitants of the First Society of Colchester for the purpose of supporting and maintaining a school…for the instruction of Youth in Reading and writing English, in Arithmetic, Mathimaticks, and the Languages, or such other branches of Learning.This established the academy that bears his name. Bacon Academy's doors opened to the children of Colchester on the first of November 1803 and from that point forward, prepared many young men and women for the life that lay ahead.

The Ruby and Elizabeth Cohen Woodlands is a park located on McDonald Road in Colchester, Connecticut. This park consists of 121 acres (0.49 km2) of natural space and includes such facilities as a gazebo, picnic tables, and hiking trails. There are two ponds on the property in addition to marshland.

The Niantic River is a mainly tidal river in eastern Connecticut. It is crossed by the Niantic River Bridge carrying Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It separates the towns of East Lyme and Waterford. The river is 5.2 miles (8.4 km) long. The distance from the end of Banning Cove to the Niantic River Bridge is approximately 3.4 miles.

Lake Hayward is a natural spring-fed lake situated just north of Devil's Hopyard State Park in the northeastern corner of East Haddam, Connecticut, and is bordered by the towns of Colchester and Salem. Lake Hayward, once known as Long Pond (by the native tribes who inhabited its shores) and then Shaw Lake, is named for Nathaniel Hayward. In 1838, Charles Goodyear, of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and Nathaniel Hayward were partners in a rubber mill which operated in Massachusetts. In 1847 after breaking away from Goodyear's company, Mr. Hayward established a factory in Colchester, Connecticut to manufacture shoes. Mr. Hayward remained in Colchester, Connecticut, until his death in the 1860s. During the time he was residing in Colchester, he purchased land for hunting along Shaw's pond on the north east edge of East Haddam, Connecticut, where a grist mill was operating. After Nathaniel Hayward's death, Shaw's Pond was renamed Lake Hayward in his honor, as well as Hayward Avenue in Colchester.Lake Hayward is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.8 km) wide. Its surface area is 174 acres (70 ha), and its elevation is 348 feet (106 m) above sea level. The lake has an average depth of 11 feet (3.4 m) and a maximum depth of 37 feet (11 m). The lake has four private beaches and does not allow motorboats with gasoline engines. The western side of the lake is overseen and monitored by the local homeowners association, the Property Owners Association of Lake Hayward (POALH). There are both year-round and summer homes in the area.

The Jeremy River, named after Jeremy Adams, begins at a drainage just north of Holbrook Pond about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Gilead, Connecticut and runs for 10.7 miles (17.2 km) to the Salmon River in Colchester, Connecticut. There are many swamps and marshes along the banks of its northern end, the largest of which is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. There is a popular paddling route along the Jeremy River that begins at Old Hartford Road just north of Connecticut Route 2 about 3 miles (5 km) west-northwest of Colchester. The 2.5-mile (4.0 km) route has solid Class II whitewater throughout the run and ends at the Salmon River; however, many paddlers continue along the Salmon River paddling route. The Norton Paper Mill is located on Jeremy River (in Colchester, Connecticut). It operated from 1895 until the early 1960s, before becoming abandoned by the early 1980s, and falling into disrepair. A fire engulfed the building on July 8, 2012, consuming most of the remaining combustibles (the largely-intact walls being made of brick). The property was purchased by the Town of Colchester in 2015 (for $1), with plans to remove the building and redevelop the site as a public park. The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut removed the adjacent dam in 2016.

Jeremy Adams, also known as Jeremiah Adams (c.1604/5—August 11, 1683), was one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut. He was also the founder and first proprietor of Colchester, Connecticut, which was established on land owned by Adams, known as "Jeremiah's Farme".