By Veronica Burns

When Gertrude Stein returned to seek out her home in Oakland, California, she found it no longer existed. Her infamous response, “There is no there there,” is a phrase that has since been used to describe all sorts of deficiencies, from the lack of a center in Los Angeles to lack of a will to win in a football team. But since Stein was referring to place, a question presented itself in connection with our town: where is the “there” in Norfolk?

The answer? There are many theres. The post office is one. Each visit to the P.O. holds the expectation of socializing with others since it is part of the process of picking up the mail. The library is also a there. Various groups, from the Library Associates to Norfolk Now editors, hold meetings at the library. Others read the daily newspapers or the weekly magazines. Lectures, readings, musical soirees, and discussions are held there. Botelle School, besides being a there for the town’s younger folk, also permits use of its Hall of Flags for public gatherings.

The Town Hall is another there, where official meetings take place on a regular monthly basis, from the Board of Selectmen to the Planning & Zoning Commission to the Inland Wetlands Commission and many more.

The Norfolk Corner provides a definite there. Customers pick up their coffee and the day’s newspaper and chat with others about what’s new in town. The Speckled Hen Pub and Mizzas Pizza have both been observed as meeting places. The Curling Club, in its fiftieth year, is a winter time there not only for townsfolk but also for curlers from neighboring states and Canada. The Country Club is a summer there for many members and holds a weekly lecture series as well as catering to the golf and tennis enthusiasts among us. And let’s not forget Tobey Pond, where people hear news tidbits – what could be nicer than a swim and a chat?  The various churches also constitute a there.

So yes, there are many theres in Norfolk. But despite all these venues, people can still be heard saying they don’t know what is going on in town. Groups sometimes have trouble figuring out where to hold a special event. Others hesitate to attend summer meetings at the Town Hall because it is too hot and cramped. It was, after all, not built as a Town Hall, but as a gymnasium, where you are supposed to sweat.

This month, Norfolk embarks on the creation of a new town plan, so it seems appropriate to throw a new idea into the hopper. Could our town benefit from a good, old-fashioned community center? Can we dream about a building, maybe similar to that in Colebrook, to house a senior center, a hall for town meetings, lectures, and other social events? Such a there could include activities for children. Smaller rooms could accommodate meeting spaces for our many volunteer groups. There could be kitchen facilities to enable groups to hold dinners or other fundraising events. Perhaps it  could be an annex to the existing Town Hall. Let’s at least talk about the possibility during the upcoming town plan deliberations. Oh, by the way, where will they be held?