Kent Falls State Park

The stream that makes the falls, sometimes called Falls Brook, drops off the higher ground to the east on its way to the Housatonic River. As it reaches a band of harder rock it breaks into the run of cascades the park is named for, falling in a series of steps rather than one drop, with the total descent around 250 feet.

At the base, a red covered bridge crosses the brook, a favorite photo spot and the gateway to the climb. From there a trail loops up the hillside beside the water, built with stone staircases, a boardwalk, and railings to keep visitors safely back from the slick ledges while still giving close views of each cascade and the clear plunge pools between them.

The upper reaches of the trail reach the top of the falls, where the brook slides quietly through the forest, giving little hint of the drama just downstream. Coming back down, the whole sequence of cascades unfolds in reverse, framed by hemlocks and hardwoods.

The Litchfield Hills are built largely of ancient metamorphic rock, including bands of marble and schist folded and squeezed during the long building of the Appalachian mountains hundreds of millions of years ago. Where a brook crosses from harder to softer rock, or drops off a resistant ledge, waterfalls form, and Kent Falls is a classic example.

The last ice age shaped the finer details. As the great continental glacier melted back from Connecticut roughly fifteen thousand years ago, it left the landscape of rounded hills, boulder-strewn slopes, and reset stream courses that set the stage for the falls we see today.

The mossy, cool micro-world around the cascades, ferns, liverworts, and hemlock shade, is a small pocket of the kind of habitat that thrives on constant spray and cold, clean running water.

This stretch of the Housatonic Valley is the homeland of the Schaghticoke people, whose reservation lies not far to the south along the river near Kent, and whose community continues in the region today. The valley's rivers and hills sustained Native life here for thousands of years before European settlement.

In the colonial and early American periods, the fast-falling brook drew mills, as such streams did across New England, and the town of Kent grew as an iron-making center, with furnaces smelting local ore using charcoal from the surrounding forests. The second-growth woods around the falls today grew back after that era of heavy cutting.

Connecticut acquired the falls and the surrounding land in the 1920s, protecting them as a state park so the cascades and their meadow would remain open to the public, a genuinely early act of scenic preservation.

Spring is when the falls run fullest, fed by snowmelt and rain, and the surrounding woods green up quickly, making it many visitors' favorite time.

Summer draws the biggest crowds, with the meadow perfect for picnics and the shaded trail offering a cool climb, though flows drop through the dry months and the parking lot fills early on warm weekends.

Fall sets the Litchfield Hills ablaze with color, and the cascades framed by red and gold foliage make autumn a spectacular time to visit.

Winter can turn the falls into columns and curtains of ice, quiet and striking, though the trail is closed or hazardous when icy, and the experience is best enjoyed from the safer lower viewpoints.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.