Barkhamsted is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut and contains two villages, Pleasant Valley and Riverton. The town has a total area of 38.8 square miles (100.6 km²), of which 36.2 square miles (93.8 km²) is land and 2.6 square miles (6.8 km²) of it (6.72%) is water. A high percentage of the land in the town is owned by the State of Connecticut as state forest (People's State Forest and American Legion State Forest) and by the Metropolitan District Commission as watershed land. Major bodies of water include the Barkhamsted Reservoir, Lake McDonough, and the Farmington River.