Canaan, New Hampshire, United States

🇺🇸 Canaan is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the location of Mascoma State Forest. Canaan is home to the Cardigan Mountain School, the town's largest employer.

The main village of the town is defined as the Canaan place, and is located at the junction of U.S. Route 4 with New Hampshire Route 118.

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. It was settled in the winter of 1766–1767 by John Scofield, who arrived with all his belongings on a hand sled. The land was filled with rocks, making agriculture difficult. The town constructed a broad road for its main street on a stretch of level land.

The Northern Railroad (predecessor of the Boston & Maine Railroad) was constructed to the town in 1847, spurring development. Water powered mills were built on the streams. By 1859, the population had reached 1,682, and Canaan had one gristmill, three lath and clapboard mills, and one tannery.

Canaan is drained by the Mascoma River and its tributary, the Indian River, which flows past Canaan village. Canaan Street Lake is in the centre, and Goose Pond is in the northwest. Mount Cardigan, overlooking Canaan village, lies to the east in the neighboring town of Orange. A mountain road leads from Canaan to a trailhead in Cardigan Mountain State Forest, where hiking trails on the west slope of the mountain lead to the 3,155-foot (962 m) bare-rock summit. The highest point in Canaan is the top of an unnamed ridge (approximately 2,270 feet (690 m) above sea level) in the north-east corner of town, overlooking Derby Pond.

Canaan lies almost fully within the Connecticut River watershed, except for the north-east corner of the town, which drains north to the Baker River and is part of the Merrimack River watershed.

The town is crossed by U.S. Route 4 and New Hampshire Route 118.