Discover 5 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Colchester (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Cragin Memorial Library, Old Bacon Academy, and Wheeler Block. Also, be sure to include Hayward House in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Colchester (Connecticut).
Table of Contents
Cragin Memorial Library
Library
Address: 8 Linwood Ave - Route 16, Colchester
Old Bacon Academy
School in Colchester, Connecticut. 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 long by 34 feet 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 "negroes and persons of color" 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.[1]
Wheeler Block
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.[2]
Hayward House
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.[3]
Colchester
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. Roughly, the district extends to the northwest along Broadway Street 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 to just east of Kmick Lane. The historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 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.[4]