Historical Society’s Summer Exhibit
“Norfolk in the Great War” opens May 27 On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the Great War, and life in Norfolk changed quickly. The Eldridge Gymnasium (now Town Hall) became an armory and the setting for outdoor drills with a rifle range set up on the rocky ledge behind Fox Hill, home […]
William Eggers Loves to Make Stuff
By Ruth Melville When Bill Eggers was 10 years old, he took the motor out of the family lawnmower and put it into a little wooden car he had built himself. A policeman brought him home and complained to his mother that he had been going 50 miles an hour on the highway. She […]
Painter, Photographer and Printmaker Shows at Norfolk Library
The Art of Chance Encounters By Melissa Stevenson The Norfolk Library’s newsletter, “The Owl,” describes Sallie Ketcham as a mixed-media artist. Memories of elephant poop and political argument might come to mind, but luckily, in this instance, “mixed-media” refers to an artist with an interest, and capabilities, in several different creative mediums. While these […]
Working Toward a Low Salt Diet
By Susannah Wood As winter started up in earnest in late fall, drivers around town began to see scatterings of greenish chunks on the roads before any bad weather had actually arrived. Was this something new? Why was it being applied before the snow and not after? Turns out, there’s a good reason, a […]
Thrift Shop in Winsted Gives $3,000 to Norfolk Ambulance
Director asks for donations of clothing and household items By Wiley Wood The thrift store is behind a modest shop front on a side street in Winsted. The contents are the familiar assortment of men’s and women’s clothing on racks, children’s toys, hardback books, slightly battered sports equipment and delicate knickknacks. On a weekday […]
A New England Pastor, a Dutch Classicist and a Roman Stoic in One Book
Treasures From the Rare Book Room By Lucy Mookerjee Plenty of Norfolkians know a rare bird when they see one. But many birders would be hard-pressed to identify the markings of a “rare” book. What makes a rare book rare? It depends—age, scarcity, market value. Whether you’ve spotted it or not, the Norfolk Library […]
Busy Hands, a Ball of Yarn, a Crackling Fire
If you see a small, fuel-efficient car in Norfolk with the bumper sticker “Knit Happens,” that’s likely to be Ruth Melville. She took part in the yarn bombing of Torrington last summer—a form of street art—and last November started the Norfolk Knitters, a group that knits hats, scarves and mittens for distribution at emergency shelters. […]
Battell Chapel Window Gets a Makeover
This autumn, the tall, stained glass window in the center of Battell Chapel’s altar wall was removed and shipped to the Glass Source in Shelton, Conn., where it was completely disassembled and its 1,800 individual pieces washed and rid of years of built-up grime. When a delegation from Norfolk arrived at the conservation studio on […]
Dogs and Cats and Bears, Oh My!
Lauren Foley is Norfolk’s New Animal Control Officer By Colleen Gundlach When Norfolk’s longtime animal control officer, Glen Wheeler, passed away last year, his position remained unfilled until Lauren Foley stepped over the line from Canaan to lend a hand. North Canaan’s animal control officer (ACO) since 2013 and Torrington’s assistant ACO, Foley has […]
Aton Forest Holds Annual Census of Early Winter Birds
By Wiley Wood Although she has been taking part in Christmas Bird Counts for over 50 years, when Ayreslea Denny describes her bird encounters on the morning of December 31 in Aton Forest, her voice is full of excitement. “The number of birds we got was just unbelievable,” she said. A small group, […]
