• Berkshire Store to Close, Another to Open

    By Avice Meehan Ryan Craig, who has operated the Berkshire Country Store for a decade, has announced that he will shutter the business on Oct. 31. The news was shared in a Facebook post on Sept. 23, prompting hundreds of comments and many mournful visits to the eatery and convenience store on Station Place. Craig, […]

  • Norfolk Scholar Marinates on Medieval Cookbook

    By Avice Meehan Anyone with a tattered copy of the “Moosewood Cookbook,” the bible of vegetarian cooking published some 50 years ago, understands that cookbooks are about more than recipes. They can signal political and cultural beliefs, social aspirations and more. So consider the significance of a cookbook published more than 600 years ago. It […]

  • Digital Navigators Set a Course for Norfolk Library

    Help offered for range of tech needs By Ann Havemeyer On Mondays, beginning in October, there will be a new face at the Norfolk Library. Jennifer Lutris is the new part-time “digital navigator,” one of two navigators shared among the seven Northwest Corner libraries (Norfolk, Canaan, Falls Village, Salisbury, Sharon, Cornwall and Kent). A digital […]

  • Norfolk’s WWII Combat Cameraman

    Daughter’s film on Walter Rosenblum shows the faces of war By Patricia Platt Longtime Norfolk resident Nina Rosenblum presented her award-winning documentary “They Fight With Cameras” to a full house at the Norfolk Library on Saturday, Sept. 26. The film tells the story of her father, decorated U.S. Army Signal Corps combat cameraman Walter Rosenblum. […]

  • Aging in Place

    Historic Church Ceiling Needs a Refresh By Avice Meehan After more than 200 years of good and faithful service to the congregation of Norfolk’s United Church of Christ, the soaring barrel vault ceiling of the Meeting House requires a major overhaul. The wood lathe and plaster ceiling, likely installed in 1813, has developed serious fault […]

  • A Wall That’s Also a Bridge to the Past

    By Andra Moss The rustic stone wall is a Connecticut icon. Historians estimate that most of the roughly 100,000 miles of stone walls that criss-cross the state were built between 1750 and 1850 by settlers clearing their fields. One Norfolk resident has recently added 65 feet of historic stone wall to the tally, but its […]

  • Engineer Gives Tobey Dam “Poor” Rating

    Owners will assess the 115-year-old structure By Avice Meehan Time and nature have taken their toll on a 1911 dam and spillway located at the western edge of Tobey Pond. The structures, which have withstood many significant weather events, received a “poor” rating in a recent inspection report required by the state Department of Energy […]

  • The Mindful Moments of Miranda Lee

    Interview by Jude Mead For the past four years, Miranda Lee has shared her yoga skills and yoga teaching tools with the broader community through Find That Pause, a free Saturday morning mindfulness program that began at the Norfolk Library and has since grown into a multi-library and hospital wellness program. For Lee, mindfulness isn’t […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Student Leadership From Bell to Bell By Lauren Valentino As principal of Botelle School, one of my greatest joys is watching our students grow into thoughtful, responsible and active leaders. Families, community members and visitors to our school often notice the dedication of our fantastic teachers and staff, but what they might not realize is […]

  • Signed, Sealed and Delivered

    Having left her mark indelibly on the Norfolk Post Office, Kathy Bascetta retired on Sept. 30 after 23 years with the Postal Service. A visit to the post office–the center point for most of the Norfolk community—will not be quite the same without her. Let neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night […]

  • There’s Much More Than Water in There

    Elementary school students from Norfolk, Barkhamsted, Colebrook and Hartland gathered on Sept. 25 at the Riverton Fair Grounds to learn about the history of the Farmington River and its role in shaping the regional environment. Here, Botelle students, including Daphne Rutolo, learned about the many insects and other creatures that call the river home.

  • Following the Fall Migration—One Birder’s View

    By Jude Mead Every fall, the skies become highways for millions of migrating birds, many of them traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to reach their wintering grounds. From tiny warblers and sparrows to hawks, geese and nighthawks, birds rely on a remarkable combination of instinct, environmental cues and, in some species, experience to […]

Articles

Early Morning Fire Guts Norfolk Barn

Forty firefighters respond from five towns By Avice Meehan Adair Mali often sleeps with earplugs but dispensed with them on the night of Aug. 18, tired after a night at Tanglewood with her husband, Antonio Guindon, and another couple. Thank goodness she did. At about 4:20 a.m. Mali awoke to a “loud crackling noise” and […]

Ann Curtiss Scoville’s Artwork Comes to Norfolk

“Dancers” to become the third addition to Norfolk Sculpture Trail By Colleen Gundlach Art and history will meet in Norfolk this fall when a sculpture by Ann Curtiss Scoville is installed in the town center. The installation marks a homecoming of sorts for the artist who was born in Norfolk in 1919. Ann Curtiss was […]

Norfolk Sculptor’s Raven Lands at The Mount

By Patricia Platt A bronze sculpture by Norfolk artist Jon Riedeman is on view through Oct. 24 at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, Mass. The work is one of two dozen large-scale sculptures selected for this year’s juried exhibition, which carries the theme “Flourish” and celebrates connection, growth, hope and resilience. The exhibition […]

Norfolk Garden Gets National Attention

Smithsonian recognizes Roger Mitchell’s restoration of a Marian Coffin garden By Joseph Kelly A Norfolk garden designed by a leading 20th century landscape architect that was left to languish in disrepair for decades before being resurrected by its current owner, Roger Mitchell, is now receiving national attention through its inclusion in the Smithsonian Archives of […]

Litchfield County Choral Union Closes 2026 Season

Celebrating America’s 250th birthday By Jude Mead The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) brought its 2026 summer season to a stirring close on Sunday, Aug. 2, with “From Roots to Promise: Singing America at 250,” an ambitious program that celebrated the country’s musical traditions while looking toward its future. The concert featured the LCCU anthem […]

Haystack Book Festival Returns to Norfolk

Nationally recognized authors offer conversation and insights By Ann DeCerbo Book lovers, curious minds and anyone who enjoys a lively conversation about ideas have plenty to look forward to next month when the Haystack Book Festival returns to Norfolk Oct. 2–4 with events at Infinity Hall, the Norfolk Library and Great Mountain Forest. A program […]

Fire and Circus Arts on the Green

By Jude Mead Matica Circus, a professional performing group based in Harwinton, Conn., brought an unforgettable combination of fire, acrobatics and circus arts to the Norfolk Village Green for the grand finale of the season of the Friday Nights on the Green summer concert series. The high-energy performance captivated the crowd with dramatic fire spinning, […]

Humpback Whales at the Norfolk Library

by Jude Mead Imagine stepping inside the enormous body of a humpback whale! Children and families at the Norfolk Library had the chance to do just that when The Whalemobile brought Nile, its life-sized inflatable humpback whale, to the library for a special Summer Reading Finale. As the culminating program of the summer reading program, […]

BOTELLE BEAT: New Faces for a New Year

By Kevin D. Case Botelle School opened its doors for the 2026-2027 school year this past Wednesday, Aug 26, with 62 pre-Kindergarten through grade 6 students enrolled, an increase of seven students over the past school year. On hand to greet our new and returning students were some new faces of staff members recently hired. […]

Botelle Ushers in a New Year

The first day of school dawned cool and cloudy, but no one seemed to notice. Students arrived at Botelle Elementary School on Aug. 26 via bus, car and firetruck (complete with siren). Some students, like Daphne Rutolo who walked her older sister to the bus, will have to wait for the start of the pre-Kindergarten […]

A New Year, New Pathways

Northwestern Regional 7 expands opportunities for students By Virginia Coleman-Prisco As students and staff return to Northwestern Regional School District No. 7 (NWR7) middle and high schools for the 2026-27 school year, district leaders say the focus will be on strengthening student opportunities, preparing young people for an evolving workforce and building an even stronger […]

Selectman’s Corner: As Summer Winds Down…

By Henry Tirrell It has been a busy summer. Construction, events, elections, town meetings and more have all been happening while we try to enjoy the local summer offerings and the time away on vacations. Throughout all of this, I continue to be moved by the small and large actions that people in our community […]