Colchester is a community and unincorporated place in

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake ...

, the southernmost settlement on mainland

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, and the southernmost point with the exception of

Point Pelee National Park Point Pelee National Park (; french: Parc national de la Pointe-Pelée) is a national park in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada where it extends into Lake Erie. The word is French for 'bald'. Point Pelee consists of a peninsula of l ...

. It is located on the north shore of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

, approximately south of the town of Harrow. Colchester was formerly part of the Township of Colchester South and is now a part of the amalgamated Town of Essex within the

County of Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Gre ...

. Colchester shares its postal code with Harrow as N0R 1G0. Europeans began to settle in Colchester in the 18th century. Many

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America ...

s leaving the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

around the time of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

were given

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s in Colchester. Some of names of these pioneers can still be found today in the names of residents throughout the region including: Snider, Huffman, Ferris, Hutchins, Iler, McCormick, Quick, and Tofflemire. One such Loyalist was John Snider of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. In 1798 Snider was given Lot 82 along the lakefront and built a home for his family just west of the village. As the oldest known structure along Lake Erie's shoreline, the house was completed in 1813 and a letter from the time indicates that men were working on the home's roof as cannons roared during the Battle of Lake Erie. The area was also a destination for slaves escaping the U.S. via the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

in the mid-19th century, and for freed slaves during and after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. In the 1870s a church was built along Dunn Road by many pioneering blacks, and it was named Zion African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. The church's cemetery still stands today on the western edge of the Road. Colchester was also the birthplace and hometown of railroad engineer and inventor

Elijah McCoy Elijah J. McCoy (May 2, 1844 – October 10, 1929) was a Canadian-American engineer of African-American descent who invented lubrication systems for steam engines. Born free on the Ontario shore of Lake Erie to parents who fled enslavemen ...

, whose work was granted 45 patents in the US. Today, in addition to its many lakeside

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

s, Colchester is home to several hundred year-round residents who have converted older homes and built new ones. Restaurants, a public beach, and a marina have been an important part of Colchester for some years now. The population is approximately 900. Colchester lies along the southernmost road on mainland Canada, County Road 50, and has recently become a tourist destination because of the nearby wineries, the beach and harbour, and the scenery of the area. Every year, the village plays host to the "Colchester Villagefest" and "Explore the Shore", which are aimed at attracting visitors to the venues and attractions along the historic lakefront road. The village is also home to Christ Church Colchester (Anglican) which has a long history dating back to the beginnings of Colchester as a settlement.

References

{{authority control Communities in Essex County, Ontario Populated places on the Underground Railroad