Hannawa Falls, NY

Hannawa Falls is a St. Lawrence County hamlet and census-designated place in the towns of Parishville and Pierrepont, just south of Potsdam along New York State Route 56. The community takes its name from a waterfall on the Raquette River, whose flow has long shaped local industry and transportation. A hydroelectric plant and a pulp mill once operated here, and the old Hannawa Falls Water Power Company even ran a small steam railroad connected to that industrial landscape.

Today the Raquette remains the center of the local picture. Dams and lake-like impoundments divide the river into working water and recreation areas, while Route 56 carries daily traffic through the hamlet. Potsdam supplies nearby colleges and other regional services, including Clarkson University and SUNY Potsdam. The waterfall still gives the hamlet its name. Hannawa Falls is a small northern New York community where river power and a short drive to a college town all still matter to the way residents use the area.