The Sumners Falls Canal in Hartland Vermont is the 4th of the six navigational canals of the Connecticut River that you meet as you go from south to north on the river. The Sumner Falls Canal is between Hartland and North Hartland Vermont and 7 miles south of White River Junction. It is the 4th one of the six built. It was completed between 1803 to 1809 and lasted until 1856. It is only a few feet in length and had but two locks to lift it 12 feet.
The Ottauquechee River is to the north of the Sumner Falls Canal. The Water Quechee Falls is just three miles south of the tributary river and that is were the canal is.
October 22 1794 Vermont grants approval for the canal and then on December 1796 New Hampshire grants approval for the canal. Perez Gallup was the first owner and his Vermont land was alongside the canal. It had several owners through the years with the last being David Sumner. The locks and a saw mill were carried away in 1856 and never rebuilt. Remnants of the locks are still in place.