The auction is about to begin, as potential buyers browse among an assortment of furniture in front of George W. Scoville’s store on Greenwoods Road near the corner of the Green. Scoville was a dealer in furniture and upholstery as well as town undertaker and funeral director. The store no longer stands, but Scoville’s house, located next door, is still there and is owned by Turi Rostad. It was originally built as a store and operated by a succession of merchants before being made into a dwelling. Isabella Eldridge opened a reading room in the west room of the house in 1881. There she kept newspapers, magazines and periodicals for the use of the community. By the time this photograph was taken, Miss Bella, as she was known, had built the Norfolk Library across the road. The Scoville house was later the office of Dr. Richard Barstow, the last in a long line of Norfolk family doctors.

—Ann Havemeyer

Photo courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society.