Great Falls (Connecticut River)

Great Falls (Connecticut River)

Bellows Falls postcard high flow

1886 birds-eye map of Bellows Falls, Vermont

Great Falls (Bellows Falls) at high flow 2-26-2016

Great Falls is a waterfall along the Connecticut River between Walpole, New Hampshire and Bellows Falls, Vermont. It had previously been called “Bellows Falls,” and its Abenaki name is “Kitchee Pontegu,” which means "great falls." Great Falls became its official name (based on local usage) in 2016. It drops 52 feet, and was the main reason that Bellows Falls (an incorporated village in Rockingham, Vermont) was established next to it, to take advantage of its water power.

Previously, the main settlement in town, Rockingham Village, was on a high point of land overlooking the Williams River, with no potential for water power.

The Bellows Falls Canal, one of the first canals built in the United States, was dug by a British-owned company from 1791-1802 to bypass Great Falls for river travel. After it was widened and deepened in 1926-28 to bring more water to a new hydroelectric plant, there was less water going over Great Falls, except during late winter and spring high flow (see third photo at right).

The Great Falls gorge is the narrowest point along the river, so it was the site of the first bridge across the river, built by Colonel Enoch Hale in 1784. This bridge was replaced by the Tucker Toll Bridge in 1840, visible in both the postcard and bird's eye view (with Great Falls at the right edge of the image) at the right of this page. There was a covered railroad bridge just upriver of the toll bridge, visible in both images, now an open bridge. The Tucker Toll Bridge was replaced by the Vilas Bridge in 1930 (3rd image at the right). The Vilas Bridge was closed to all traffic in 2009 because it was dangerous, and there are currently (as of 2020) no firm plans to repair or replace it.

There are two groups of petroglyphs on the Vermont side of the falls, called the Bellows Falls Petroglyph Site, just downstream of the Vilas Bridge. Depending on the height and density of the riverbank vegetation, and the river level, the petroglyphs may be visible through binoculars from near the eastern end of Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, without climbing down the steep bank.