Canaan, NH

Canaan is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The 2020 census counted 3,794 residents. Canaan is the location of Mascoma State Forest. Canaan is home to the Cardigan Mountain School, the town's largest employer. Canaan is the home of Mascoma Valley Regional High School. The through line in Canaan is the way its history and present-day settings remain visible on the same map. Canaan makes the most sense through those concrete details, with its history still visible in the settings people use today. Chartered in 1761 by Governor Benning Wentworth, the town was named after the hometown of many early settlers, Canaan, Connecticut, which had been named by Puritans for the biblical land of Canaan. Canaan was settled in the winter of 1766–1767 by John Scofield, who arrived with all his belongings on a hand sled. Canaan is drained by the Mascoma River and its tributary, the Indian River, which flows past Canaan village.