Great Falls
Marked private. Do not count on getting in.
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Great Falls is a waterfall in Connecticut, at a modelled elevation of 185 m. Bear Mountain stands 708 m to the northwest, 7.1 miles off. The nearest named place is Town Green, a park 0.7 miles away. Jacob's Ladder Trail (Route 20) passes 24 miles off.
The story
Great Falls is a waterfall formed along the Housatonic River at Falls Village in the town of Canaan amidst Connecticut's Litchfield Hills. Great Falls is the highest volume waterfall in the state, though a great deal of its potential water volume is diverted immediately upstream during most of the year for hydro-electric power generation.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q22058797, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Height
- 15 m
How to reach it
- 24.0 mi off the Jacob's Ladder Trail (Route 20)
Overlooks nearby
Named places within 25 miles
- Battle Hill: 0.8 mi
- Falls Mountain: 0.9 mi
- Gallows Hill: 1.2 mi
- Mount Prospect: 1.3 mi
- Raccoon Hill: 1.5 mi
- Town Green: 0.7 mi
- Trotta Field: 2.6 mi
- Salisbury Village Open Space: 2.8 mi
- Civil War Memorial: 3.0 mi
- Dean's Ravine: 3.2 mi
- Town Of Canaan: 0.8 mi
- Inka's Woods Preserve: 1.2 mi
- Hamlet Hill: 1.5 mi
- Page Road Swamp: 1.6 mi
- Winter Woodland: 2.1 mi
- FV - Canaan Historical Society: 0.7 mi
- Holley Williams House Museum: 3.6 mi
- Connecticut Railroad Historical Museum: 4.9 mi
- C H Pease Museum: 5.0 mi
- Gay-Holt House Museum: 8.0 mi
- Dough Boy: 4.9 mi
- East Canaan Veterans Monument: 5.7 mi
- Folly: 7.5 mi
- Lime Kiln: 8.2 mi
- Tri-State Marker: 8.4 mi
- Dean's Ravine Falls: 3.3 mi
- Riga Falls: 5.3 mi
- Pothole Falls: 5.9 mi
- Sages Ravine Brook Falls: 6.7 mi
- Pine Swamp Brook Falls: 6.7 mi
- Giant's Thumb: 1.5 mi
- Town Hill Farm: 3.6 mi
- Beckley Furnace: 5.3 mi
- Sheffield Covered Bridge: 11.2 mi
- Gagarin Grove: 16.5 mi
- Newsboy Statue: 15.2 mi
- Liebowitz Letter: 17.0 mi
- Naked Lady: 17.2 mi
- Diving Lady: 20.9 mi
- Divine Mercy: 22.7 mi
- Winsted Cliffs: 16.0 mi
- The Beech: 17.3 mi
- Space Invaders: 17.3 mi
- Squirrel Wall: 17.3 mi
- Cloud Buttress: 17.3 mi
- Holland Beach: 14.9 mi
- East Beach: 19.2 mi
- Sandy Beach: 19.6 mi
- West Beach: 19.8 mi
- Morris Town Beach: 20.5 mi
- Heritage Garden: 18.8 mi
- Orintas Family Butterfly Garden & Viewing Stand: 18.8 mi
- Judea Garden: 19.5 mi
- Naumkeag Garden: 22.7 mi
- Berkshire Botanical Garden: 23.4 mi
- Cannavo Spring: 15.5 mi
- Hermit spring: 17.7 mi
- Big Spring: 19.0 mi
- Ever Flowing Spring: 19.3 mi
- Dudley Town: 10.7 mi
- Questing: 12.6 mi
- Guilder Pond Picnic area: 10.5 mi
- Bulls Bridge Road: 21.0 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 7.7 miles of Great Falls. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Mountain | NW 323° | 708 m | 7.1 mi |
| Gridley Mountain | NW 318° | 668 m | 7.2 mi |
| Bald Peak | NW 305° | 588 m | 5.9 mi |
| Bradford Mountain | ENE 65° | 584 m | 4.4 mi |
| Mount Riga | WNW 294° | 534 m | 5.4 mi |
| Lion's Head | NW 309° | 531 m | 4.9 mi |
| Stone Man Mountain | E 95° | 528 m | 4.6 mi |
| Wangum Lake Hill | E 84° | 521 m | 5.9 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 06:58 | 18:29 | 19:06 |
| June solstice | 05:19 | 19:51 | 20:33 |
| September equinox | 06:42 | 18:16 | 18:53 |
| December solstice | 07:19 | 15:41 | 16:26 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Oct.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 25 | 27 | 35 | 47 | 58 | 66 | 71 | 69 | 62 | 51 | 40 | 30 |
| Precip in | 3.0 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 3.8 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Falls Village, under a mile away.
Months at or above the year’s average flow: Dec–Jan, Mar–May — fullest in Apr, leanest in Aug.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean cfs | 1,192 | 1,116 | 1,924 | 2,335 | 1,360 | 917 | 641 | 535 | 554 | 700 | 987 | 1,220 |
USGS monthly mean discharge at gauge Housatonic River AT Falls Village, CT, under a mile away — the nearest gauge, which can sit on a different stream.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidataOpenStreetMap element node/1343710079
Day trips start here
- Great Barrington · 16 mi
- Monterey · 17 mi
- Berkshires · 18 mi
- Otis · 21 mi
- Stockbridge · 23 mi
- Lee · 24 mi
Take the scenic way.
Byway plans around your taste, mapped places, real weather and opening hours — then opens every leg in Google Maps with one tap.