FALLS VILLAGE — Dick Heinz and Judy Jacobs led a group of eight visitors around the historic district of Falls Village on Saturday, Sept. 25.
The tour was part of the Housatonic Heritage series of informative walks and tours.
Starting on Railroad Street at the Depot, home of the Falls Village-Canaan Historical Society, the group took a leisurely stroll past the Falls Village Inn, where Jacobs noted the building’s history, as tavern and brothel.
Moving on through the town Green, where Falls Village Cafe customers were enjoying the sunshine at the outside tables, Heinz said as a child he and his friends played baseball on the site.
Jacobs told the group that cash for the bank up the street was once unloaded from the train and wheeled up Main Street on a horse-powered, narrow gauge rail line.
As the group made its way up Main Street, Heinz and Jacobs explained how the downtown landscape changed over the years.
Prompted by a question, Heinz launched into an explanation of the difference between “Town of Canaan — Falls Village” and “Town of North Canaan,” commonly referred to as “Canaan,” even though the actual Town of Canaan is really Falls Village.
“Wait, now I’m confused,” laughed Heinz.
Jacobs said it was the railroad that popularized the name “Falls Village.”
The visitors were suitably impressed when informed about the Tiffany windows in the Center on Main, and were interested to know that Heinz had lived in several of the houses along the tour route, which continued to Beebe Hill Road and the Hunt Library before angling down Brewster Road and then back to the Depot.
The Heritage Walks began Sept. 4 and will end this weekend, Oct. 2 and 3. Get the schedule at https://housatonicheritage.org/events/heritage-walks/.
