• Inside the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art

    A season of student and community activity By Patricia Platt For over 80 years, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust has endowed Yale University’s summer music and art programs in Norfolk. The renowned Yale Norfolk School of Art opens the 2026 summer season on May 23, before the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival begins, and shares its […]

  • Trio Revives Local Farmers Market

    Northwest Farm to Fork launches at Norbrook By Andra Moss When Devin Grosso and her husband moved to Norfolk in 2024, she was disappointed to learn that the town’s farmers market had permanently closed just the year before. However, a chance meeting at the Botelle School garden with Lisa Auclair, who had managed the Norfolk […]

  • Tracing the Dudley Legacy

    Family history and the truth behind Dudleytown By Jude Mead The Dudley name, with roots stretching back to 14th-century England, carries with it a long and often dramatic history. For Susan Dudley of Winchester, that legacy has been a lifelong source of curiosity—particularly her family’s connection to Dudleytown, the long-abandoned settlement hidden within Cornwall’s Dark […]

  • Cultivars, Nativars and Natives: The Lowdown

    by Susannah Wood It’s May and gardening is in full swing. At nurseries and on gardening sites, beginners and enthusiasts often encounter plants labelled “cultivar” or “nativar,” as well as “native.” What is the difference between a cultivar and a nativar? If someone wants to support local ecosystems and biological diversity, are nativars a good […]

  • Noteworthy Natives: Arrowwood Viburnum

    By Jill Chase For some, a mass of viburnums in bloom on the woodlands edge rivals the beauty of any formal garden around. The fresh white flowers on green foliage let you know that the spring garden season is well and truly on. There are several good varieties of viburnum—some produce blooms like snowballs, while […]

  • A Town Hall Treat for Pollinators

    The Norfolk Nature Alliance sponsored a student native plant garden project at Town Hall. The Northwestern Regional 7 Agricultural Education Program/FFA arrived on a sunny Sunday to install the donated native shrubs and perennials.

  • Birds Now

    A view on the prose and poetry of spring By Cheryl Heller As I write, the red-winged blackbirds are partying outside my window. Goldfinches, in their bright almost-summer feathers, make yellow polkadots in the dogwood that will flower any day. The phoebe (or her daughter) who has nested on our hanging porch light for the […]

  • Happiness Is …

    Smiles and squeals greeted “Farmer John” Coston as he surprised the Merrymakers group of kindergarten and first-graders with a lamb visit at the Norfolk Library’s after-school program on March 23. Cuties and lambs—need we say more?

  • Greenwoods Puppet Festival Returns to Norfolk Library

    By Bina ThomsonThe Greenwoods Puppet Festival returns to Norfolk for a third exciting showcase of puppet magic. Children’s Librarian and Event Coordinator Eileen Fitzgibbons, who has coordinated the previous two festivals, is busy fine-tuning this year’s offerings. In addition to a full day of performances, a puppetry workshop for adults will also be offered. Festivities […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Power Goals and WIN Time Personalize Learning at Botelle By Lauren Valentino One of Botelle School’s SOAR expectations is to Achieve Your Goals. We believe that when students know their goals—what they are learning, why and what success looks like—they are more engaged and motivated. They are partners in the learning process and own their […]

  • Courtney Maum’s Comedic Take on Capitalism

    On June 2nd, Norfolk author Courtney Maum launches her new novel, “ALAN OPTS OUT” (Little Brown) at the Norfolk Library in conversation with WAMC radio’s Sarah LaDuke. The book is a comedy about an ad exec who bombs the biggest pitch of his career and decides to move into a backyard playhouse, opt out of […]

  • “You Shall Not Pass!”

    Gandalf and the state Department of Transportation have spoken. Mountain Road at Westside Road is now closed through November for the Spaulding Brook bridge replacement project. Traffic is being detoured off Route 44 via Westside Road. Cars can still reach the ball fields along the short stretch of Mountain Road.

Articles

Church Rejects A Tempting Offer

Members decline lucrative bid to build wireless antenna in steeple By Joel Howard Church steeples are prime real estate for companies like Message Center Management (MCM), a firm that leases antenna space to cellular service providers like ATT and Verizon. Eyeing such expanded coverage, MCM approached Congregational Church of Christ trustees 18 months ago in […]

Joel Howard Joins Norfolk Now as Editor

Wrote ad copy for the likes of Verizon and American Express By Lloyd Garrison Joel Howard almost perfectly personifies the old adage that in the heart of every ad agency copy writer there is a frustrated novelist just waiting to be unleashed. Retired from advertising and now living in Norfolk, Howard already has several plastic […]

Norfolk’s Board of Ed Debates Merger and Expansion Issues

Absorbing Colebrook students still under consideration By  Josh DeCerbo Norfolk’s Board of Education is weighing several issues affecting the future of Botelle School, including merger options with Colebrook. Several years ago, the leadership of both towns supported a study of the costs and benefits of a merger. The matter was dropped once the regional school […]

Foundation for Norfolk Living Switching Gears

Group is now eyeing existing properties for affordable housing By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo The Foundation for Norfolk Living’s mission “to create opportunities for housing in Norfolk that are affordable to a diverse community including people and families of modest means” may be realized sooner than expected. The Foundation’s Old Colony Road project,  a low-maintenance, environmentally […]

Move to Boost Small Businesses in Norfolk

EDC to offer seminars on how to launch, maintain businesses By Colleen Gundlach To start a new business in Connecticut, which state agency should a potential new owner approach first, the Secretary of State, Department of Revenue Services, or the Department of Labor?  This question and many others will be addressed at an upcoming series […]

Allen Melville, Advocate for the Disadvantaged, Dies

Family Trust Focused on Building Programs and Policies to End Homelessness  By Leila Javitz Allen Whitley Melville, a resident of Norfolk for almost 30 years, died on Jan. 1 at age 85 . A memorial service in February at the Lyceum in Hartford highlighted her work for social justice and for the rights of the […]

Anne Garrels Garners Yet Another Honor

Veteran NPR foreign correspondent Anne Garrels is one of three Connecticut residents slated to be inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame at the Hartford Convention Center in October.  Already the recipient of numerous coveted journalism awards, Garrels’ front line coverage in many overseas war zones was cited along with the work of international […]

Curling Club to Rebuild

Down But Not Out By Lloyd Garrison All was calm in Norfolk as darkness fell on Saturday, Dec. 17, exactly one week before Christmas. The town’s village green was bathed in the glow of multicolored tree lights. Many Norfolkians were home decorating their own trees in advance of the holidays.           Just before midnight, the […]

Geothermal Systems Come to Norfolk

By Bob Bumcrot Norfolk is not on a geothermal “hotspot,” like Iceland, where steam and superheated water can be easily extracted and used for heat and power, but like many parts of the earth, Norfolk sits atop its own virtually inexhaustible source of heating and cooling energy. From about ten feet below the surface to several […]

Accolades

   Four Norfolk students made Dean’s List at the University of Connecticut for the fall 2011 semester. To attain this distinction, students must take at least 12 credits, finish the semester with a grade point average that is among the top 25 percent of students enrolled in their school and have no grade below a […]

Regional’s Robotics Club

Building their own destiny By Joel Howard Working under the mantra of “gracious professionalism,” the Northwest Robotics Gearheads at Northwestern Regional High School are well on their way to creating a competitive robot. Originally championed by Superintendent Dr. Judith Palmer and Principal Kenneth Chichester, the group came into being last October. Robotics teams at various […]

This ‘n’ That for Habitat

Out & About By Colleen Gundlach Anyone who has participated in fundraising for a non-profit organization knows what a challenge it can be to find the perfect method for raising money. Bake sales, wine tastings and house tours have all been tried. While no one method is perfect, Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut seems […]