• Looking Back Over the Years

    The End of an Era for Norfolk Now By Colleen Gundlach After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors […]

  • A Look Into Norfolk’s Past

    Exhibit Explores Pupin’s Haven of Happiness on Westside Road By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Historical Museum graces Norfolk’s village green with the reserve and understated elegance of a New Englander well worth getting to know. Visitors who step inside will find exhibits that tell the stories of the town’s past, often with intriguing ties to […]

  • Norfolk Past and Present

    The Summer Chapel Eases Gracefully Into Its 130 Years By Elizabeth Bailey Ayreslea Rowland Denny began attending services at The Church of the Transfiguration in Norfolk in 1939 on the eve of World War II. A New Yorker, she was a student at the Chapin School in New York City, but her family had been […]

  • Church Steeple Shines Once Again

    Local dignitaries and friends of Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational gathered on Saturday, May 25, to formally celebrate the completion of the steeple restoration project. The Rev. Erick Olsen thanked the community for supporting the years-long effort and welcomed everyone to enjoy a splendid cake featuring an image of the steeple.

  • Making the Native… Personal

    Cheryl Heller Builds a Wild Garden in Norfolk By Joe Kelly Gardens are best when they’re personal, argued the late Fred McGourty, who remains Norfolk’s best- known plantsmen. McGourty’s 1989 book, “The Perennial Gardener,” recounts the gardens he and his wife, Mary Ann, created at Hillside, their home near Dennis Hill State Park. Were he […]

  • This Old Norfolk House

    Stevens House By Joe KellyWhen our Puritan forebears arrived on these shores in the early 1600s, they were no doubt surprised todiscover how the traditional thatched roof cottages they knew from back home were no match for thewind and cold of a typical New England winter. But it would have likely surprised them even more […]

  • Can wildlife safely cross Norfolk’s Roads?

    By Shelley Harms Where are animals crossing Norfolk’s roads? Are they making it across? Is it possible to make theircrossings safer? Julia Rogers, Senior Land Protection Manager at the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), helped agroup of interested Norfolk residents explore these questions at a training session sponsored by theNorfolk Land Trust on March 22 at […]

  • Great Mountain Forest’s New Executive Director Returns to His Connecticut Roots

    By David Beers Mike Zarfos started his new position as executive director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF) at the end ofFebruary. It has been a lively time for Zarfos and his family; in addition to moving from Washington,D.C., to Connecticut, they are expecting a baby in April. Zarfos grew up in Deep River, Conn., where […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    In the late 19th century, the arrival of every train at the depot on Station Place was widely anticipated.There were freight trains, milk trains and passenger trains unloading throngs of summer visitors. Theattractive station pictured here was built in 1898, replacing an earlier modest structure. Constructed ofnative granite, it was designed by Hill & Turner, […]

  • Focus on New Firehouse shifts to funding

    Costs likely to rise beyond initial $5 million estimate By Joe Kelly After months of sometimes contentious public hearings, plans for a new Norfolk firehouse are nearing the end of the wetlands/zoning part of the approval process and heading into a decisive new phase: finding the money to pay for it all. The Planning & […]

  • Botelle Students to Present “Frozen Jr.” March 22 and 23

    By Andra Moss What more ideal setting could there be for a production of Frozen Jr., this year’s musical by the students of Botelle Elementary School, than the Icebox of Connecticut?  “Frozen Jr. is an abbreviated version of the 2018 Broadway show by Disney,” explains Becky Keyes, a co-director, with Megan Schneider, of the production. […]

  • Stace Dillard and Hilary VanWright to Display Their Art at The Hub

    By Virginia Coleman-Prisco Georgia O’Keeffe once observed that “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way, things I had no words for.” Two local artists that similarly work from the heart will be exhibiting their work this month at the Norfolk Hub. Stace Dillard and Hilary […]

Articles

Why Such a big Firehouse?

Plans call for a near tripling of space By Joe Kelly As plans for a new Norfolk firehouse advance through the design and budgeting phases—and ultimately a town vote—one question comes up repeatedly: Why is the proposed firehouse, at 10,700 square feet, so much larger than the current one, which is just 3,800 square feet? […]

From the Bookshelf

A Very Local Sacrifice: Litchfield County and the Civil War By Joe Kelly In the middle of Norfolk’s village green stands the Soldiers’ Monument, a tall, tapered tribute in stone to 35 soldiers from Norfolk who lost their lives in the Civil War. It’s a monument to the sacrifices made to end slavery and preserve […]

Jumping Worms, Part 2: What to do?

By Susannah Wood Last month Norfolk Now published a short piece (“Jumping Worms: Fast-Moving Agents of Destruction”) on the breaking story that Asian jumping worms had arrived on the grounds of the Norfolk Library, adjacent to the new native plant bed. Readers may be wondering what steps can be taken to, at the very least, […]

New Growth, New Services

A Norfolk Tradition Looks to the Future By Colleen Gundlach  The company now known as A.B. Bazzano Fuels has been a part of Norfolk history since 1937, when John C. Bazzano, Sr. opened John C. Bazzano & Son, a business that sold ice and coal. As coal gave way to oil, the business evolved and […]

Keeping up with Mama T

Freund’s Market Continues to Expand By Colleen Gundlach Anyone who hasn’t paid a recent visit to Freund’s Farm Market in East Canaan is in for a surprise. First came additional parking around the back of the property and the installation of a second driveway, creating a one-way traffic flow. Now, displays of perennials for sale […]

This old Norfolk House

Ten Old Colony Road Still Has Many Stories To Tell By Jane Andrias Editor’s note: In two past issues, “This Old Norfolk House” has focused on the Stevens House at 10 Old Colony Road. It was occupied by a member of the Stevens family from the late 1800s until well into the 20th century. Jane […]

Hope Comes on the Wings of a Moth

Insects under threat worldwide By Avice Meehan Poet and naturalist Susannah Wood admits to having a favorite insect: the Prometheus moth, which she saw for the first time last year on a spice bush in her garden. The moth, with a wingspan the size of a hand, had just emerged and the silky remains of […]

This Old Norfolk House

The 1764 Stevens House, Part 2: A Hatter’s Norfolk Legacy By Joe Kelly When Nathaniel Stevens came to Norfolk in the mid-1700s to set up his business as a hatter and build the house that still stands on Old Colony Road—and which the Stevens family would occupy well into the 20th century—he would become one […]

Off the beaten path

Ashley Falls Offers A Lot to Explore By David Beers The beaten path is Route 7. If you are heading north on Route 7 from North Canaan, just past the Connecticut police barracks, there is a road that veers left at a slight angle. This is Ashley Falls Road (Route 7A), and if you take […]

Know Your Neighbor

Christopher Keyes With this piece, Norfolk Now is launching a new series to get to know our neighbors better and to find common ground by talking about our relationship to our exceptional town. How did you come to Norfolk? I came to know Norfolk through friends in the late ’90s. I recall a walk up Dennis […]

Norfolk Remembers: Elizabeth Ann (Poll) Leifert

Elizabeth A Leifert, 80, passed away March 28, 2024. She was the wife of 60 years of Lawrence A. Leifert. Born in Torrington on Feb. 3, 1944, she was the daughter of Armand and Katherine Killiany Poll and a graduate of the Hart School of Music. She worked for the State of Connecticut Department of […]

Norfolk Remembers: Eleanor Curtiss Ellert

Eleanor Curtiss Ellert passed away on February 23, 2024, at the young age of 96. She was born in Norfolk, in 1927 to Albert H. and Elizabeth (Manville) Curtiss. Although she moved away from Norfolk during her marriage to her first husband of 14 years, she returned with her son, Clifford Bell, after her divorce. […]