If you think you see something out of the ordinary in the first pew of the Catholic Church, you’re right. This is a photograph taken during one of the ski masses held in Norfolk in the 1930’s and worshippers have brought their skis into the sanctuary. Back then Norfolk was known as the winter sports center of Connecticut. The big attraction was the annual ski-jump competition, held at the 150’ natural slope jump on Canaan Mountain, where crowds gathered to watch some of the country’s best skiers compete. But competitors were not the only ones out on the snow. The relatively new sport of cross-country skiing had just arrived in Norfolk on the heels of the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid. A network of trails─Queen’s Highway, Biggs Trail, and Iron Horse to name a few─was created by the newly-founded Norfolk Winter Sports Association on Canaan Mountain which drew skiers from near and far.  A special “Snow Train” transported city folk from New York to the Snow Station above the Blackberry River Farm, where they disembarked with skis and poles to try their luck. In Norfolk, enthusiasm for cross-country skiing was so great that it was reported in the local paper, “Every man, woman, and child got a ski suit for Christmas.”

Ann Havemeyer