Norwich, CT Real Estate and Homes for Sale

Norwich, Connecticut, is a city at the head of the Thames River, founded in 1659 and about 20 to 25 minutes from Naval Submarine Base New London. This guide covers downtown, Norwichtown, Greeneville, Taftville, Occum, Yantic and Laurel Hill: what it is like to live here, things to do, places to eat, and what to know before buying or selling a home.

Norwich is a city where the Yantic and Shetucket rivers meet at Norwich Harbor to form the Thames River. It was founded in 1659 and is nicknamed the Rose of New England.

Norwich grew as a set of villages, several built around mills:

• Downtown (Chelsea). At the harbor where the rivers meet, with City Hall, Otis Library and a marina.
• Washington Street and Broadway. Between downtown and Norwichtown, lined with large 19th-century houses, some now divided into apartments. Norwich Free Academy, Chelsea Parade and Backus Hospital are here.
• Norwichtown. The original settlement, north of the Yantic River, with a triangular green ringed by houses from the 1600s and 1700s.
• Greeneville. Laid out in 1833 as a mill village on the west bank of the Shetucket River, now a National Register district with Greek Revival, Italianate and Second Empire buildings.
• Taftville and Occum. Former mill villages on the Shetucket. Taftville grew around Ponemah Mills, a textile mill that has been converted to apartments.
• Yantic. A mill village on the Yantic River with streets of mill house duplexes.
• Laurel Hill. South of downtown along the Thames, with 19th-century Italianate, Carpenter Gothic and Queen Anne houses and some multi-family buildings.

The city's 2022 housing plan reports that nearly half of Norwich housing units are in multi-family buildings and that more than a third of the housing was built before 1930.

Interstate 395 passes through Norwich. Route 2 is an expressway from Hartford that ends in Norwich and continues southeast past Foxwoods Resort Casino, and Route 2A leads to Mohegan Sun in Montville. Route 32 follows the west bank of the Thames to New London. Route 12 runs south through Preston and Ledyard to Groton and passes Naval Submarine Base New London, a drive of about 20 to 25 minutes.

Backus Hospital is the city's largest non-government employer. The two casinos, Electric Boat and the submarine base are within commuting distance.

Norwich has a large city park, a harbor at the head of the Thames, and museums and historic sites in its older neighborhoods.

• Mohegan Park. The city's largest park, with swimming and fishing at Spaulding Pond, trails, a playscape and pavilions. Its two-acre Veterans Memorial Rose Garden has about 2,500 rose bushes that peak in June.
• Howard T. Brown Memorial Park. On Norwich Harbor, with a boat launch, fishing and a waterfront walkway.
• Uncas Leap Heritage Park. A gorge, waterfall and mill ruin at Yantic Falls. The 2.8-mile round-trip Heritage Trail follows the Yantic River here from downtown.
• Dodd Stadium. A 6,270-seat stadium where the Norwich Sea Unicorns play summer collegiate baseball.
• Norwich Golf Course. An 18-hole municipal course on New London Turnpike.
• Norwich RoseGarden Ice Arena. An indoor rink on New London Turnpike with public skating, hockey and figure skating.
• Slater Memorial Museum. On the Norwich Free Academy campus, with a gallery of plaster casts of classical sculpture and art from five continents.
• Leffingwell House Museum. A house museum on Washington Street in Norwichtown, open on weekends from April through October.

More ideas: Things to do in Norwich on Tripadvisor.

Places to eat in Norwich are spread across its villages. Downtown, at the harbor, has a brewery, a marina and Howard T. Brown Memorial Park. In Norwichtown, restaurants line Town Street, and more sit along West Main Street and West Thames Street. Taftville has a pizza restaurant on Norwich Avenue. On a weekend, people swim, fish or walk at Mohegan Park, watch summer baseball at Dodd Stadium, play the municipal golf course, skate at the RoseGarden Ice Arena or visit the Slater Memorial Museum.

• Olde Tymes Restaurant. American comfort food restaurant on West Main Street, in business for more than 42 years.
• Bella Fiore Restaurante. Italian restaurant and bar on West Thames Street with brick-oven pizza, open since 1993.
• These Guys Brewing Company. Craft brewery with a restaurant menu in downtown Norwich.
• Canggio Restaurant. Peruvian and Japanese restaurant on Lafayette Street.
• Cait & Irene's Family Restaurant. Italian, Greek and American restaurant on Town Street in Norwichtown serving pizza, grinders, pasta and seafood.
• Taftville Pizza. Pizza restaurant on Norwich Avenue in Taftville.

More places to eat: Restaurants in Norwich on Tripadvisor.

Multi-family homes. Two-family and three-family houses are common here, and a buyer can live in one unit and rent the others. The VA says its home loans can be used for properties of two to four units. Review every unit, the leases and how utilities are metered before making an offer.

Older houses. Many Norwich homes predate 1930. Federal rules require sellers of most homes built before 1978 to disclose what they know about lead-based paint and to give buyers a 10-day window to test for it.

Historic districts. Norwichtown and Little Plain are local historic districts. Exterior changes that can be seen from a public street need a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic District Commission before work starts. Interior work and repainting do not.

Two fire tax districts. Norwich has a City Consolidated District, covered by the paid Norwich Fire Department, and a Town Consolidated District, covered by volunteer fire companies. Each carries its own fire tax on top of the citywide property tax. Ask which district a house is in.

Utilities. Norwich Public Utilities is owned by the city and provides natural gas, electricity, water and wastewater service.

Schools. Norwich Public Schools runs the city's elementary and middle schools. For high school, students choose among area programs, including Norwich Free Academy, an independent, privately governed academy that serves as the primary high school for Norwich, and Norwich Technical High School. School information is available from the district and the academy. For school profiles from an independent source, see Norwich Public Schools District on Niche.com and Norwich Free Academy on Niche.com.

Pricing a Norwich home starts with a comparative market analysis that compares like with like: single-family against single-family, and two-family or three-family homes against similar buildings nearby. The buyer pool includes owner-occupants, investors and people relocating for work at the submarine base or Electric Boat. Sellers of multi-family homes should have leases, rent amounts and utility details ready, because buyers and lenders will ask for them.