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is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,146 at the 2000 census.
Tolland was named in May, 1715, and incorporated in May, 1722. According to some, the town derives its name from being a toll station on the old road between Boston and New York. Alternately, its name could have been taken after Tolland in Somerset, England. Today Interstate 84, the main highway connecting New York City, Hartford, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts, bisects Tolland, but the town retains a charming village feel. Tolland Green is the informal center of the community, and a national historic district. The Green's features include an old-fashioned penny candy and antiques store known to locals as the 'Red and White'; the town's original 19th century town hall, now an arts center; the 'Old Tolland Jail' museum; the 'Tolland Inn' bed and breakfast; and the Hicks-Stearns Museum, a restored Victorian house. The architectural styles on display, including the white steeples of several churches, are reminiscent of a picture-postcard New England scene. The town is also home to the supposedly haunted 'Benton Homestead'.
Many of the town's adults work in Hartford, located about 25 minutes away, often at one of the city's many insurance companies, or for the neighbouring University of Connecticut in Storrs. A family-oriented town, the landscape of Tolland is primarily composed of large houses on plots of around one acre. Undeveloped, forested land covers the area between the town's many residential developments. Containing two state forests and several municipal parks, the town retains a relatively rural character.
In September 2006 Tolland opened a new high school to support the growing number of students. The town is also expanding with new commercial and residential developments.
In 2005, Tolland was voted the 29th best place to live in America by CNN/Money magazine.
In April 2008, Wes Craven began filming scenes for his 2009 movie 25/8 inside the former Tolland High School.
In September 2008, Tolland Intermediate School was opened. It holds grades 3-5 and is in the space of the former middle school. It was opened and Parker Memorial School was closed because of crowding issues.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 40.3 square miles (104.4 km²), of which, 39.7 square miles (102.8 km²) of it is land and 0.6 square miles (1.5 km²) of it (1.46%) is water.
Nearby towns include Coventry, Ellington, Mansfield, Stafford, Storrs and Vernon, Connecticut.