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Canaan, Connecticut: A Village Called Falls Village

Canaan, Connecticut

Pictures from Canaan

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Great Falls of the Housatonic Music Mountain, Gordon Hall

The land that became Canaan sold sight-unseen as "Town C" at a New London auction on January 3, 1738, divided into 53 shares at 60 pounds each; the General Assembly incorporated the town in 1739. The Housatonic Railroad arrived in 1841 and named its stop "Falls Village," a name that stuck so firmly that residents still call the town's center Falls Village rather than Canaan. An 1845 canal venture to harness the Great Falls failed publicly at its opening, when water "squirted from leaks all along the canal." The Ames Iron Works, built at Amesville on the Salisbury side of the falls in 1833, made locomotive wheels and Civil War ordnance before it closed after the war. In 1858, a legislative committee found the undivided town naturally divided by an impassable mountain, splitting off North Canaan — which is why a village called Canaan sits in a different town today.

  1. A 1930-founded chamber-music festival in an acoustically celebrated hall.

  2. Falls Village's de facto community and arts center since 1891.

  3. A sixty-foot cascade with an overlook and Appalachian Trail access.

  4. 6,000-plus acres of trails spanning Canaan and Norfolk.

  5. Dinner nightly in an 1834 building restored in 2010.

  6. Farm-to-table breakfast and lunch, Wednesday-Sunday.

  7. A new café pitched to Appalachian Trail thru-hikers.

  8. Five rooms in the village center, Canaan's only lodging.

Falls Village, not Canaan

Confusingly, the village of Canaan lies inside the town of North Canaan, while the town of Canaan's own center has been called Falls Village since the Housatonic Railroad's 1841 station. The 1858 division followed a legislative finding that an "impassable mountain" made the two halves of the old undivided town "two distinct communities." The region's iron industry sat just over the line at Amesville, in Salisbury: the Ames Iron Works produced locomotive wheels and Civil War ordnance there from 1833 until it closed after the war. James Mars, born into slavery in the undivided town in 1790 — in what is now North Canaan — later wrote one of New England's best-known slave narratives.

Getting there

There is no passenger train to Falls Village — Metro-North, Shore Line East, Amtrak and the CTrail Hartford Line all stay well south and east of Litchfield County. Most visitors drive in on US Route 7 along the Housatonic or on CT Routes 63 and 126 through the village center, with US Route 44 the approach from Hartford and NY Route 22 the approach from New York. The nearest passenger rail is Metro-North's Harlem Line terminus at Wassaic, New York, in Dutchess County.

Music Mountain and the Great Falls

Music Mountain, founded in 1930 by Chicago Symphony concertmaster Jacques Gordon, runs a summer chamber-music festival in the acoustically celebrated Gordon Hall — The New Yorker called it "the summer shrine of the string quartet." The Great Falls of the Housatonic tumble roughly sixty feet, with an overlook and trail system beside the hydroelectric station that has run since 1914. Great Mountain Forest protects more than 6,000 acres spanning Canaan and Norfolk, and the Appalachian Trail runs directly through the village past the unused 1851 canal.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get to Canaan (Falls Village)?
By car — US Route 7 follows the Housatonic through the village, with CT Routes 63 and 126 crossing through the center and US Route 44 the approach from Hartford. There's no passenger rail in town; the nearest station is Metro-North's Harlem Line terminus at Wassaic, New York.
Is Canaan the same as North Canaan?
No — they're two different towns. The town of Canaan is locally called Falls Village, its center since the railroad arrived in 1841. The village actually named Canaan sits inside the separate town of North Canaan, which split off in 1858.
What is Music Mountain?
A chamber-music venue founded in 1930 by Jacques Gordon, former concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony. Its 2026 season runs 15 consecutive weekends from June 7 through a September 13 finale, with Sunday chamber concerts and Saturday jazz in the National Register-listed Gordon Hall.
Can I hike near the Great Falls?
Yes — the hydroelectric station beside the falls maintains two trail systems with direct access to the Appalachian Trail, which runs through the village past the unused 1851 canal. Great Mountain Forest, spanning Canaan and Norfolk, adds more than 6,000 acres of additional trails.
Where can I eat and stay in Falls Village?
The Falls Village Inn's dining room serves dinner nightly, with Mountainside Café and Off the Trail Café covering breakfast and lunch. The inn's five guest rooms, in an 1834 building restored in 2010, are the town's main lodging.

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