Norfolk Then

Miss Anna Thompson built her Shingle Style “cottage” on Laurel Way in 1894. By then, Norfolk had become a popular summer resort, and the arrival of summer visitors and residents was announced weekly in the local paper. On May 9, 1895, it was reported that “Miss A. K. Thompson who keeps a select boarding school […]

Community News

Nonlethal Management of Beavers On Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Mike Callahan, president of the Beaver Institute, will discuss beavers, their ecological importance and how to successfully manage beaver problems when they occur. Since 1998 he has personally resolved over 1,700 human-beaver conflicts. Callahan will present a new Beaver Institute program designed […]

View From the Green

Peaceably to Assemble By Colleen Gundlach “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The rights addressed in […]

“This Shouldn’t Happen to Anyone”

Residents and activist group appeal council’s decision on new turbine By Wiley Wood On March 6, the Connecticut Siting Council approved the construction of a new turbine on Flagg Hill. Considerably taller than the two existing ones, and generating roughly as much energy as the other two combined, it will sit just within the Colebrook […]

Rooting Out Invasives

Early summer is still a great time to go after many of the invasive species that are crowding out native plants and reducing food sources for birds and pollinators. Japanese barberry fruits have yet to ripen and garlic mustard seed pods are drying out but have not yet popped open. (Barberry can take over the […]

Church in the Time of Covid-19

Bringing the Church Family Back Together By Kelly Kandra Hughes Norfolk is home to three different churches within the town limits: The Church of the Transfiguration (Episcopalian church), Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Norfolk Church of Christ Congregational (UCC). As the town slowly opens up and returns to a new kind of normal, the question […]

It’s a Waiting Game for Norfolk Educators

Botelle Beat by Clinton J. Sosna “We educators are planners. We are very good at planning,” says school superintendent Mary Beth Iacobelli, expressing the frustration she feels, in mid-June, with still no official word from the state on how Norfolk’s school should proceed in the fall. It’s a waiting game, filled with unresolved questions concerning […]

July, Gardner’s Bane

Through the Garden Gate Text and Illustration By Leslie Watkins The meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus, is a relentless, destructive, ubiquitous pest in gardens, both ornamental and vegetable. Often mistaken for moles who can be beneficial eating grubs, worms and other root eaters, the vole is smaller and vegetarian. If you notice one of your plants […]

Making Fiber Optics Affordable

I read with interest about the possible plan to bring high-speed internet via fiber optic transmission lines. However, unless the plan includes no-cost wiring to connect to users’ homes and businesses, many could find themselves priced out. We inquired to Frontier Communications earlier this year about installing high-speed cable to our house. Since the cable […]

Respect the Road

Norfolk Speaks By Tom Hodgkin I can hear it from more than a quarter mile back.  It’s a barely-muffled pickup, with knobby, off-road tires.  I grip my handlebars tighter and steer onto the white line at the side of the road.  Six inches to my right, the shoulder disintegrates into loose dirt and vegetation; if […]