Welcome to Colchester ...

Colchester is located in Fairfax County<1>.

The location of Colchester has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Colchester, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1782.

Colchester is 60 feet [18 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Colchester lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area codes for Colchester: (703) and (571)<4>

Websites for Colchester ...

Chamber of Commerce:   www.fccc.org/

Although we don't have any websites that are specific to Colchester, the following might be of interest:

Communities Also Named Colchester ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 5 communities that are also named Colchester - they are located in Illinois, New York, Ontario, Vermont and Washington.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Colchester.

Communities near Colchester ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Colchester.

• Arlington
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
  • Arlington is located in Arlington County
  • Population from the 2010 Census: 207,627 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arlington <5>
• Alexandria
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alexandria
  • Alexandria is located in Alexandria City
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 158,726 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alexandria <5>
• Manassas
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manassas
  • Manassas is located in Manassas City
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 40,869 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manassas <5>
• Fairfax
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairfax
  • Fairfax is located in Fairfax City
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,429 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fairfax <5>
• Manassas Park
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manassas Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manassas Park
  • Manassas Park is located in Manassas Park City
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,004 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manassas Park <5>
• Vienna
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vienna
  • Vienna is located in Fairfax County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 16,518 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Vienna <5>
• Falls Church
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls Church
  • Falls Church is located in Falls Church City
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,631 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Falls Church <5>
• La Plata
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Plata
  • La Plata is located in Charles County (MD)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 9,800 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for La Plata <5>
• Dumfries
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dumfries
  • Dumfries is located in Prince William County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,106 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Dumfries <5>
• Indian Head
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Head have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Head
  • Indian Head is located in Charles County (MD)
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,787 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Indian Head <5>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Colchester. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Colchester.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Colchester. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Colchester.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Colchester. See our Newspapers Page for Colchester.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Colchester ...

Looking for more information about Colchester? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Colchester, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Colchester.

Adding Colchester to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Colchester in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Colchester was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Colchester post office opened in 1782.

We also found Colchester in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (1803).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Colchester.

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Colchester. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Fairfax County: www.co.fairfax.va.us/

The official website for State of Virginia: https://www.virginia.gov/