Rails to Trails Rolls Onward with North Brook Trail

By Sue Frisch   In just three years, Norfolk’s Rails to Trails committee has gone from being a brand-new group to being custodians of a state-approved rail trail—the North Brook trail—along a state-owned segment of Norfolk’s decommissioned railroad bed, which snakes roughly east-west through town. Now the committee is reapplying for the $187,000 state grant […]

Weekend in Norfolk 2018, in Photos

Drop-In Center in Torrington Provides Services for the Homeless

  By Ruth Melville For the past three and a half years, The Gathering Place in Torrington has offered homeless individuals in Litchfield County a safe place to find help and services. It’s not an overnight shelter, but a daytime drop-in center where people can take a shower, do their laundry, find clothing for job […]

Who Are the Library Associates and What Do They Do?

In Support of the Norfolk Library   By Leila Javitch Many people in town probably don’t know who the Library Associates are, or what role they play at the Norfolk Library. Simply put, the Library Associates is a group of volunteers whose goal is to support the work of the library, primarily by sponsoring free […]

Community Survey Reveals Notable Range of Opinions

Broad consensus and sharp disagreement   By Wiley Wood Imagine gathering a large, random group of Norfolkians to discuss what’s good and bad about the town and asking them to suggest one or two things that need doing in the next ten years. A recent community survey did essentially that, but gathered the responses online. […]

Following Budget Cuts, School Board Decides to Cut Botelle School’s Strings Program

Liz Allyn Is Resigning as Music Teacher   By Ruth Melville In response to a combination of rising expenses and a decreasing budget, the Norfolk Board of Education has decided to eliminate the strings part of music education at Botelle School. Until the upcoming school year, all Botelle students had, at the music teacher’s discretion, […]

Wood Creek Bar and Grill Is a Role Model for Town-Wide Involvement

A Community Anchor   By Colleen Gundlach The dream of many chefs is to own a restaurant of their own. It takes years of dedication, long hours and just plain hard work to achieve, yet is a goal that many never attain. For Heidi Dinsmore, co-owner of Wood Creek Bar and Grill, her hard work […]

City Meadow: Town Takes First Steps Toward Phase Two

  By Wiley Wood The dragonflies like it. Pairs of brightly patterned skimmers chase each other around the pools in City Meadow Park, before disappearing into the long grasses. A lone visitor approaches on the walkway. “First time here,” he says in greeting. “They told me two people couldn’t walk abreast, but they must have […]

Trail Runners Take to the Woods

  By David Beers If you have ever seen a blur of colorfully dressed people running through the Norfolk woods in the evening, it is likely the Hill County Trail Runners. This informal Norfolk-based club gets together at 5:30 every Tuesday evening to run the many beautiful trails in and near Norfolk. Each week features […]

Firefighting From Behind the Front Lines

  By C. J. Sosna On Saturday, June 30, a day when the temperature climbed into the 90s, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) was called out to a house fire on Torringford Road in Winsted. By the time they arrived shortly after 7 p.m., the entire roof was already in flames, and the heat […]