Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Chepachet, RI

Chepachet is a village and census-designated place in the town of Glocester in northwestern Rhode Island, with a population of 1,704 at the 2020 census, 744 households, and 405 families.

Chepachet is centered at the intersection of U.S. Route 44, known as Putnam Pike, and Rhode Island Route 102, and its ZIP code is 02814.

Chepachet was originally inhabited by the Pequot and Nipmuc peoples, and the name means where rivers meet.

Leading up to the American Revolution the area was a hotbed for supporters of independence, and the Glocester Light Infantry was founded in Chepachet in 1774.

In 1842 Chepachet was the setting of the endgame of the Dorr Rebellion, which helped win voting rights for non-landowners in a new state constitution.

On November 4, 1923, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and fellow writer C. M. Eddy, Jr. came to Chepachet searching for a place known as Dark Swamp, and the region inspired at least the opening of Lovecraft's story The Colour Out of Space.

Since 1926 Chepachet has hosted the Ancients and Horribles parade, an annual Fourth of July event notable for its political statements and ribald humor.

May 25 is recognized as Elephant Day in Chepachet by a proclamation from 1976, marking the date in 1826 when Betty the Learned Elephant, a popular traveling-show elephant, was shot and killed while crossing the bridge over the Chepachet River.

In the 1940s a United States Navy fleet fuel oil tanker, the USS Chepachet, was named after the Chepachet River, and the ship's bell is displayed at the seat of town government.

The Chepachet Village Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 31, 1971, and the Chepachet Free Baptist Church meeting house was built in 1821.