to
Update
refers both to a village within the town of Ledyard, Connecticut and to a complex of buildings within that village at the site of the ferry which gave the community its name. According to the 2000 census, the per capita income of the village of Gales Ferry was $24,678.
Gales Ferry includes a notable historic district with several buildings from the late colonial and early national periods (late 18th and early 19th century). The village is named for the ferry operated by Roger Gale at the current site of a Yale University crew training camp. Originally its own community, Gales Ferry has been administratively absorbed by the larger town of Ledyard, but nonetheless retains its own US Post Office (ZIP code 06335) and a Gales Ferry Library branch is operated within the greater Ledyard library system. The community has several neighborhoods including The Village, Birdland, Christy Hills, Sherwood Forest, Glenwoods, and Presidential Estates. The community of Gales Ferry also has its own volunteer fire department, a small marina, and Dow Chemical operates a plant located on Route 12. Much of the economic activity in the town revolves around the US Naval Base just to the south of the town in Groton, Connecticut. The community has two schools: Juliet W. Long, which is Grades 3-6, and the newer Gales Ferry school, which is K-2. They are located off the Thames River next door to each other.
The old Gales Ferry School, located on Hurlbutt Road, has been vacant since 2001. In 2007 the town announced that an agreement had been signed with a developer to convert the school into the Ledyard Medical Center and to construct a Rite Aid Pharmacy on a baseball field located on the school property. Construction was to begin in May 2008. The main developer made a separate agreement to sell the drug store portion of the site to another development company associated with Rite Aide. However, as of February 2009 no progress had been made. The main developer claims that the start of construction is dependent on the installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Hurlbutt Road and Rt. 12. The town disagrees, pointing out that while the traffic light is part of an agreement between the two development companies it is not part of the agreement between the main developer and the town. The town has begun the process of terminating the purchase agreement with the main developer.