Essex Historic District

Essex Village is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Essex, Connecticut, in the United States. The population was 2,583 at the 2020 census, out of 6,733 in the entire town of Essex. The government offices of the town are located within the village.

Hill's Academy is a historic school building at 22 Prospect Street in Essex, Connecticut. It is now the home of the Essex Historical Society, and was also historically known as the Red Men's Hall because it served as an Improved Order of Red Men lodge. It is a two-story Greek Revival building that was built in 1832, and was used as a school until 1910. It was used by the Improved Order of Red Men between 1915 and 1954. The town then established the Essex Historical Society to receive the property and to preserve local history. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.The academy building occupies a prominent location overlooking Essex's Main Street area, facing east on the west side of Prospect Street just south of the Congregational and Baptist churches. It is a two-story brick building, with a gabled roof capped by a squat single-stage belfry. The front facade is three bays wide, articulated by brick pilasters painted white, which rise to an entablature and fully pedimented gable. Pilasters are also found at the corners of the wood-framed belfry, which has rectangular louvered openings. The main entrance is in the central bay, while the flanking bays are blank. The interior has an entrance vestibule, from which narrow stairs wind to the second floor on the right. Each floor has a single large chamber, which functioned as classrooms during the building's academy phase. Original finishes include wood flooring and staircase trim.The academy was founded in 1831 through the efforts of John Hill, a local businessman, and this building was completed the following year. It was one of the first secondary schools in southern Connecticut, providing the equivalent of a junior high school education to students from as far away as the states in the American South. By 1892, the town had an established public high school, and the academy was dissolved in 1902, its building turned over to the town.

The First Baptist Church in Essex, Connecticut, built in 1846, is notable for being one of only three Egyptian revival churches known to have ever been built in the United States. The architect was Minard Lafever.The handsome, white clapboard building features a tripartite facade, the central section of which is a frustum that rises to support the cupola. The church's original steeple was destroyed after being struck by lightning in 1925.

The Pratt House is a historic house museum at 19 West Avenue in Essex, Connecticut. With a construction history of one ell possibly dating to the mid-17th century, it is one of Connecticut's oldest surviving buildings, owned for 2+1⁄2 centuries by a single family. Now owned by the local historical society, its displays exhibit Pratt family and regional history. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Griswold Inn is located in Essex, Connecticut and is one of the oldest continuously run inns in the United States. It was founded by three brothers in the late 18th century and named after the Griswold Family of the area, and it has been under the stewardship of only six families. British troops captured it during the War of 1812 and used it as a base of operations. During Prohibition, it still maintained a lively entertainment schedule for the local yachtsmen. Over the years, several surrounding buildings were added to the inn complex, each with its own history. It was also used as a filming location for the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.

The Connecticut River Museum is a U.S. educational and cultural institution based at Steamboat Dock in Essex, Connecticut that focuses on the marine environment and maritime heritage of the Connecticut River Valley.The three-story Connecticut River Museum is located in a restored 1878 steamboat warehouse, which is now the only one of its type remaining on the river, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum opened to the public in 1975, with Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso as its first paid member and ex officio patron. The core of its collection came from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, which provided the museum with a loan of nautical artwork, navigation equipment and maritime-related artifacts. The museum's main and third levels offer changing exhibits, while its second level is home to a permanent exhibition on shipbuilding, which includes historical maps and models of steamboats and exhibits on the piscine species in the Connecticut River.The museum's collection also includes a full-scale replica of Turtle, the first American submarine, which was constructed in Essex in 1776 for use against the British in the American Revolution. The museum property also includes a boathouse and a research library. In December 1995, the museum was given a triangular 1-acre (4,000 m2) waterfront property, valued at US$910,000, in the neighboring village of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, by Bill and Victoria Winterer, who were among the museums co-founders. The property is used as a waterfront park managed by the museum. In 2011 the museum caught fire. They had to rebuild part of it.

The Falls River is a 7.7-mile-long (12.4 km) river located in Essex, Connecticut. It begins in the Pond Meadow area of Ivoryton and runs for about 5 miles (8.0 km) through Essex. Its beginnings are visible from Comstock Field at the end of Park Road in Ivoryton. Before that it runs to a small pond behind the L.C. Doane Company near Pond Meadow Road. It runs along the old Sohmer Piano Factory, under Walnut Street, and along Main Street. It continues to run along Main Street, being very visible near the Lutheran Church. It eventually winds its way to the Connecticut River, near a parcel of conserved land called Osage Trails.

The Essex Freight Station is a railroad station located in the Centerbrook village of Essex, Connecticut. Built in 1915, it is a well-preserved example of period railroad-related architecture. It now serves as a station on the resurrected Connecticut Valley Railroad, which provides excursion steam train trips. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 19, 1994.

The Essex Reef Light or Essex Reef Post Light, also known as Hayden's Point Light, was a light in Essex, Connecticut on the Connecticut River. The 21-foot (6.4 m) wooden tower was erected in 1889 and replaced with a skeleton tower by 1919. The skeleton tower was further altered to an automatic gas light a few years prior to 1931. Its keeper, Gilbert Burnett "Bernie" Hayden served for 30 years. As of 2014, a 26-foot (7.9 m) skeleton tower serves as an active daymark and it has a green flash every 4 seconds.

The Centerbrook Congregational Church, also known as the Centerbrook Meeting House, is a historic church at 51 Main Street in the Centerbrook village of Essex, Connecticut. It is a single-story wood-frame structure resting on a granite foundation, which is set on a knoll on the north side of Connecticut Route 153. The main block was built in 1790, making it the oldest known church in Middlesex County and one of the oldest in the entire state. The building added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Centerbrook is a hamlet located in the town of Essex, Connecticut. The village is home to numerous businesses, the Essex Steam Train, a post office, and Essex Elementary School. It has many houses but it is generally considered the more commercial part of Essex.The village consists of the area immediately west of the Route 9 expressway, extending southwest along Route 153 to Tiffany Brook, west along Main Street to Earl Street, and north along Route 154 to Route 9.

Essex is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 6,733 at the 2020 census. It is made up of three villages: Essex Village, Centerbrook, and Ivoryton.