Canaan is a town in Somerset County, incorporated on June 18, 1788, though significant settlement began in 1803 when mills were erected on Wesserunset Stream.
Variously known as Heywoodstown, Howard's Town, plantation of Wesserunset, and Old Canaan, it once included the area now encompassing the town of Skowhegan. In 1814 it set off land to the new town of Bloomfield; in 1823 more land was ceded to form the Town of Milburn. Milburn's name was later change to Skowhegan and that town eventually annexed Bloomfield.
The village is served by the Carrabassett Stream and by Maine Route 23 and U.S. Route 2. Lake George and Sibley Pond are popular summer and ice-fishing attractions.
In an area of diminished economic activity, its 23 percent population growth in the 1990-2000 decade is impressive.
