Canaan, Vermont, New England USA

About Canaan, Vermont

Essex County
Including: Beecher Falls
Chartered: February 25, 1782 (Vermont Charter)
Area: 21,174 Acres = 33.08 Square Miles [ Size Rank: 185* ]
Coordinates (Geographic Center): N 45° 00′ W 71°34′
Altitude: 1,042 feet ASL
Population (US Census, 2010): 972 [ Population Rank: 150* ]
Population Density (persons per square mile): 29.4 [ Density Rank: 127* ]
Full Census Info: Town County State

*Area, Population and Density rankings refer to Canaan’s relative position among Vermont’s 255 civic entities (9 cities, 242 towns, 4 gores and grants). Complete rankings are here.

Canaan was chartered to a group of men from Connecticut and named for that state’s Canaan. During the peak of the 18th century’s religious fervor known as The Great Awakening, a score of Connecticut towns had been given biblical names, many of which were carried north to new towns in New Hampshire (Bethlehem, Hebron, Lebanon) and Vermont (Bethel, Goshen, Sharon).

Biblically, Canaan is the land the Lord promised to the Israelites: “I am come down…to bring them…unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites”. Developers in both Connecticut and Vermont promoted their towns as desirably rich and fertile, in both cases the name more euphemistic than anything else: the former were barren and rocky, the latter heavily forested and mountainous.

The first US census (1791) recorded only 19 residents of Canaan. Ten years later, a new charter was issued, now including the former town of Norfolk, which had been chartered in 1782 and named also for a Connecticut town.

Activities

Goings-on in and near Canaan
Calendar of Events provided by the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing

Contact Info

Emergency Services (Statewide): 911
Hospital: North Country Hospital & Health Care (Newport) 802-334-7331

Town Clerk: Noreen Labrecque PO Box 159 Canaan, VT 05903
802-266-3370
M-F 9-3

Churches, Ministries, Charitables

Episcopal : St. Paul
Roman Catholic : Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary
United Methodist : Bloomfield UMC 603-237-4031
United Methodist : Grace UMC 802-266-3071

Schools

Essex North Supervisory Union 802-266-3330
Canaan Schools 802-266-8910

 

Neighboring Towns

This is a basic geographic reference, intended to show relative location of adjacent towns. Directional accuracy is limited to 16 compass points. There isn’t even the slightest suggestion that one can necessarily travel directly from one town to the next (as in “You can’t get there from here”).

Quebec, Canada

Norton

Averill

Canaan

New Hampshire

Averill

Lemington

New Hampshire

Utilities

Notes about utilities:

• One electric or phone company indicates that company serves the entire town. More than one of either indicates each serves different areas of town.
• A listed cable company MIGHT mean the entire town is covered, but not necessarily. More than one listed indicates each serves different areas of town.
• Unless your area is one served by Vermont’s only gas utility, your only option is bottled gas (any dealer).
  Cable White Moutain Cable 603-331-0000
  Electric Vermont Electric Co-op 800-832-2667
  Telephone Fairpoint 866-984-2001