• Sweets on the Green

    A Decade of Decadent Desserts By Andra Moss How is your naughty versus nice rating? Those needing to influence Santa with an especially impressive treat should grab their stockings and head to the Norfolk Historical Society (NHS) for the 10th Annual Cake Auction on Saturday, Dec. 7.     Now a Norfolk holiday tradition, the event was […]

  • Artist Tom Burr Brings His Torrington Project to an End

    Performances celebrate studio closing By Stephen Melville Norfolk resident and artist Tom Burr organized a day of performances and exhibition at his studio in Torrington on Oct. 26, marking an end to what he has called “The Torrington Project.” For the past three and a half years, Burr has rented a vast—15,000 square foot—former industrial […]

  • New Meanings for a Monument

    Light Shines on the Memorial Green By Joe Kelly On Monday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day, a crowd of about 100 gathered for the rededication of Norfolk’s World War 1 memorial, artfully restored under the auspices of the Norfolk Community Association. It was sunny. Temperatures in the low ‘60’s. Another day of no rain. Everyone talked […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1920s postcard shows Memorial Green just after the War Memorial, designed by Alfredo Taylor, was built. It was Taylor’s wife Minna who first proposed that a memorial “heroes grove” be planted on the small lot of land known as the Triangle opposite the Catholic Church. The lot had been left empty with the demolition […]

  • Restored war memorial to be celebrated on veterans day

    plaque now honors all who served By Patricia Platt A World War I monument, designed by Alfredo Taylor and erected on Norfolk’s Memorial Green in 1921, bears the inscription, “for those who gave and those who offered their lives for liberty, the people of Norfolk have built this monument and crowned it with the Liberty […]

  • NLT Tail Ablaze with Runners

    More than 120 runners enjoyed perfect fall weather as they wound their way through picturesque Barbour Woods in the 11th Annual Norfolk Land Trust Trail Race. Some chose to add a challenging loop over Haystack Mountain, while the half-marathoners just kept moving on up—topping out at over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. *photo by June […]

  • Can you spot the Real Curler?

    There was movie magic ice to be made, and the pros of the Norfolk Curling Club were the first to get the call. In October, NCC’s Jon Barbagallo, Lou Barbagallo, Rachel Barbagallo, Mark Walsh, Harvey Chalmers and Phill West were hired by a production company to make curling ice at a Rhode Island hockey rink […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1917 photograph is a timely reminder of the long struggle fought by many dedicated women for basic civil liberties, including the right to own property, hold public office, sit on juries, participate in public assemblies and vote. The group of 25 suffragists—20 women and five men—gathered on the porch following their meeting with Congressman […]

  • The chicken who wanted to be a star and other tales from a norfolk movie set

    By Andra Moss Secrets and small towns don’t often pair well, and Norfolk is a small town. Yet, for eight weeks this summer, a crew of nearly 100 people quietly transformed Tim and Paula Webster’s 1908 Norfolk farmhouse into a film set for a feature-length production, all the while staying under the local radar.  It […]

  • great blue heron rookeries

    working together to provide sustainable breeding habitats By Jude Mead Great Blue Herons are a familiar sight in Norfolk and are one of the largest of all North American herons, standing up to four feet tall with a wingspan of close to six feet. They are most noticeable in flight as they soar across the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    Tennis at Town Hall? The building we know as Town Hall was originally the Eldridge Gymnasium, built in 1892. Located within easy walking distance of hotels and boarding houses in Norfolk at the turn of the last century, the Gymnasium was a popular gathering place for both residents and visitors. People played croquet on the lawn […]

  • Looking Back Over the Years

    The End of an Era for Norfolk Now By Colleen Gundlach After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors […]

Articles

Little Guild Animal Shelter Plans Major Renovation of Their Building

Capital campaign launching at the Great Country Mutt Show in June By Ruth Melville For over 60 years, the Little Guild has been taking in homeless cats and dogs and helpingthem find their “forever homes.” Located for 30 of those years in a 3,000-square-footbuilding in West Cornwall, the shelter is now planning a major renovation […]

Church’s Fellowship and Growth Team Eager to Help

Serving the Community By Jude MeadNavigating life post-pandemic has been a struggle for many, including Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational. Just before Covid-19 struck, the church had restructured its committees into what are now known as teams. Since the pandemic, church members have been searching for ways to better help serve the community. One group, […]

Grant-Funded Mental Health Professional to Join Botelle Staff

By Virginia Coleman-Prisco An $8.7 million U.S. Department of Education grant has been awarded to EdAdvance with thepurpose of increasing school-based mental health services over the next five years to 30 K-12schools in northwestern Connecticut. EdAdvance is one of Connecticut’s six RegionalEducational Service Centers (RESCs), and its mission is to promote the success of school […]

Norfolk Salutes its Volunteers

Spotlight on Norfolk Volunteer Ambulance Bill Brodnitzki We moved to Norfolk in 1971, and about a year after moving into town, my neighbor called over to me. “Bill can you go on an ambulance call?” I went! Things were different then. We referred to those days as “load and go.” No training was required, and […]

Coming Soon: The Great Barrington Triplex II

Community has come together to purchase a piece of history By Patricia PlattEarly in 1995, Richard Stanley bought a lumber yard in Great Barrington and built the Triplex Theater on its site. It quickly became a beloved community gathering place where, for 28 years, locals of all ages remember eating popcorn and watching Hollywood, independent […]

Benefit Concert for Humanitarian Aid

Teryn Kuzma, an accomplished vocalist and instrumentalist, held a benefit concert for humanitarian aid at Norfolk’s Botelle Chapel. She performed contemporary works, and uncommon Eastern European opera and art song. Kuzma accompanied herself on the 55-stringed Ukrainian bandura, a large harp-zither whose origins can be traced back to the 1600s in Ukraine.

Norfolk Rails to Trails Wins $400k Grant 

North Brook Trail to be Fully Accessible    By Andra Moss The third time was the charm for the Norfolk Rails to Trail (R2T) committee’s grant application to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Connecticut Recreational Trails Program. When the official announcement was made on May 15, Norfolk was one of only 50 communities […]

Norfolk in a Pickle

Pickleball in Norfolk: Bridge With a Racket By Janet Gokay Mead If you have access to any sort of media, you’ve probably read several articles about how pickleball is taking the country by storm. Well, for once, Norfolk was at the forefront of a cultural tsunami: a small group of players in town have been […]

Norfolk Housing Trends

A Hushed Market for Real Estate Transactions in Norfolk By Avice Meehan The British pop band Herman’s Hermits made it big in the U.S. in 1967 with a hit song called “A Kind of Hush” – and hushed is a good description of Norfolk’s real estate market this spring.  “There’s not much on the market,” […]

Icebox Cafe Plans Opening For Memorial Day Weekend

New Norfolk cafe will focus on food and community Text By Michael CobbPhoto Courtesy of The Crippen Family After more than 10 years owning and running Rex Cafe in Hell’s Kitchen and five years managing the iconic Mermaid Inn in Chelsea and Red Rooster in Harlem, New York City restaurateur Peter Crippen and his wife, […]

Questions Linger On Gas Spill Crash 

Could it have been prevented? Can it happen again? By Joe Kelly   The tanker truck that crashed last November on Route 44 in Norfolk didn’t just disgorge thousands of gallons of gasoline into the center of town, it also left behind lingering questions about the circumstances surrounding the accident and worries that it could happen […]

Biking to Norfolk with The Western New England Greenway

By Stephen Melville Norfolk residents driving to and from nearby destinations like Sand Road Animal Hospital, LaBonne’s Market or the Millerton Moviehouse may have noticed a new series of green-and-white signs along their route. These signs mark the Western New England Greenway (WNEG), also known as U.S Bicycle Route 7. This multi-part, multistate bike route […]