It takes 3 villages

Designated one of the best small towns in America, Essex is three distinct villages. Villages are demographic rather than political entities, built around a geographic or economic commonality, said Don Malcarne, a lifelong resident and town historian. While under the same municipal government, Essex, Centerbrook, and Ivoryton each has a post office and ZIP code and a Main Street. Centerbrook drew the earliest settlers, in the late 1600s, when the area was called Potapoug. When the shipbuilding era dawned, the focus shifted to Essex Village, with its easy access to the Connecticut River. The Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era boosted the fortunes of Ivoryton, the home of Comstock, Cheney & Co., one of the country's preeminent manufacturers of ivory piano keys, billiard balls, combs, knitting needles, and toothpicks. Today Centerbrook is the town's commercial center with banks, shops, and light industry. Essex Village draws the most visitors, with its historic houses, shops, and the Connecticut River Museum . Ivoryton boasts summer theater at the Ivoryton Playhouse, formerly a social hall.