Kent Falls became Connecticut's eighteenth state park in 1919 through a gift of 200 acres from the White Memorial Foundation, and later purchases and donations brought it to more than 295 acres. The park features a series of cascades and waterfalls descending over 250 feet through Kent Falls Gorge as Kent Falls Brook flows from the marshes and wetlands of the Town of Warren through gneiss and schist to the upper waterfall, where it cuts through the softer Stockbridge Marble Formation and plunges about seventy feet in a two-stage fall. Potholes and plunge basins formed throughout the gorge as torrents drove harder rock cobbles downward and spun them in swirling eddies, and hanging dry potholes remain as evidence of abandoned water routes. Native Americans undoubtedly fished and camped near the falls, and in colonial times impoundment dams and grist mills were built along the watercourse, with part of a millstone still lying upstream of the first observation deck. In the 1930s, the Civil Works Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps established Camp Macedonia west of the park to develop Kent Falls and nearby Macedonia Brook State Parks, and as visitors increased, a Refectory was built on the hill northwest of the main parking area, though only its stone chimney and fireplace survive. Additional trails and stone works were built along the north side of Kent Falls Gorge, including the path now followed by the Yellow Trail.

Photo: Michael Herrick

Photo: Michael Herrick