Roaring Brook Falls is a 50-foot horsetail waterfall on Roaring Brook in southwestern Cheshire, Connecticut, where the brook drops down a wooded cliff on West Mountain. It sits in a town-owned park with a marked trail, and it has been a local landmark since the late 1800s.
The falls
The World Waterfall Database, using lidar data, puts the single drop at about 50 feet. The long-published figure is 80 feet, and the Town of Cheshire and most guides still use that figure. Below the main drop, cascades continue, and a 10-foot fanning horsetail forms at the very top. Trees and undergrowth hide parts of the falls from most angles.
Getting there
The trailhead is at 827 Roaring Brook Road, off Mountain Road. Roadside parking is available at the end of Roaring Brook Road; there is no fee. The trail to the falls is 0.9 mile each way, on packed dirt, rocky and steep in places, rated moderate to strenuous. The park is managed by the Cheshire Department of Recreation. A kiosk and additional public parking are on Roaring Brook Drive, where the Orange Trail climbs along the brook to the Quinnipiac Blue Trail.
When to go
April to June and the days after heavy rain bring the strongest flow. The trails are open year-round.
On site
An observation point on the Orange Trail faces the falls. Dogs are allowed on a leash. There is no wheelchair access, and swimming is not possible or prohibited. Hikers have been hurt on the steep, rocky ground: in 2014 a 20-year-old hiker fell about 15 feet and was airlifted out, and in 2024 the Cheshire Fire Department made two rescues of injured hikers at Roaring Brook. Stay on the trail and back from the cliff edges. Along the way are a pond, picnic facilities and old chimney remnants.
History and name
The falls take their name from the brook. Algonquian peoples lived in the area before European settlement; from the 17th century the land was cleared for farming and the brook turned a mill. By the late 1800s visitors came out from New Haven to see the falls. After a development threat in 1974, the Town of Cheshire and the Cheshire Land Trust preserved the waterfall and its forest by 1978.
Nearby
Gorge Cascade Falls is about 4.3 miles away, Hopp Brook Falls about 5 miles and Wolcott Falls about 5.6 miles. The Orange Trail also links the falls to the Quinnipiac Blue Trail.
Distances are straight-line.