• 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

Habits of the Beaver

Comeback Kids Great Mountain Forest’s 2012 Forest Lyceum series began on January 14 with, “The Life and Habits of the North American Beaver” lecture by Dr. Stephen DeStefano at the Norfolk Library. “The first wave of beaver trapping started a decade after the Pilgrims landed, and beavers were almost wiped out to make hats later,” […]

Curling Club’s Destruction Sends Shock Waves Through Norfolk and Beyond

The morning after the fire, stunned Norfolk residents stood mourning the still smoking wreckage of the curling club, some fighting back tears, others consumed with rage.             The fire touched many in a deeply personal way, and none more so than Jon Barbagallo, the club’s ice manager and veteran of Norfolk’s Volunteer Fire Department. “The […]

Holiday Trumpeters

By Bob Bumcrot Norfolk resident John Allyn has played trumpet for most of his life. On December 4, 2011 he realized a dream when, along with four other trumpet players and about fifteen enthusiastic hikers and bikers, he ascended Haystack Mountain Tower with instruments, sheet music and stands. As the Sunday bells of the Church […]

Dr. David Leffell Publishes Photography Book

By Sally Quale Since 1994, Dr. David Leffell, a world-renowned dermatologist and author of several dermatology publications, has been coming to Norfolk with his wife Cindy and their two children. Initially summer renters and subsequently homeowners, the Leffells spend as much time here as they can depending on their busy weekly schedules in New Haven. […]

Conservation Commission to Replace Shrubs at Town Hall In one of its first acts, the newly formed Conservation Commission will remove alien invasive species from the front of Town Hall and replace them with non-invasive natives. Their goal is to complete the transformation in one day, Saturday May 2. Slated for removal and disposal are […]

At the Library

Rare Book Room By Sally Quale “It’s beautiful!” exclaimed Co-Director Robin Yuran, describing the recently-completed Rare Book Room, another part of the Norfolk Library’s current capital improvements project. The new room is actually a refurbished meeting room on the second floor that now boasts walls of warm, wooden shelving, and is heat and humidity regulated. […]

Another Torch Passed

Norfolk’s Memorial Day ceremonies on May 26 will be marked by the annual parade of marching bands, school groups and servicemen and women. An 81-year- old Navy veteran will not be marching this year. Hobbled by arthritis, Colebrook resident Peter Giansiracusa will ride in a horse-drawn buggy as he has done for the past five […]

“Bella,” Based on “Our Town,” Comes to Life at the Library

The annual play performed by the women of the Isabella Eldridge Club at the library had the look of a costume party.  Jack O’Malley’s deftly written  script of “Bella” used Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town” as a template to reflect on life in Norfolk in the late 1800’s. Directed by Ann Havemeyer, the cast and extras […]

Zone 4: Spring Planting Choices

By Mark A. Tonan Spring is soon to be upon us, and plants are on a lot of people’s minds. Annuals, perennials, woody plants, ground covers, and edibles are all well suited to spring planting and will become widely available as the weather warms. These plants come in many forms and have certain signs to […]

Special Needs Program at Botelle Benefits All Students

By Timothy Lee Botelle School is home to the Intensive Education Program, or IEP, that serves the educational needs of severely disabled students who range in age from six to 16 and present a variety of challenges in the areas of mobility, communication and self-care. They are typically in wheelchairs and require adult support in […]

Grant Applications Invited From Area Artists and Writers

A newly incorporated foundation based in Norfolk and known as AWED, is now accepting grant applications from visual artists and nonfiction writers who live in Barkhamsted, Canaan, Colebrook, Norfolk, North Canaan and Winsted. The foundation name is an acronym for Artists and Writers Education and Development. Grants to be awarded in 2008 will range from […]

Library to Exhibit the Work Of Norfolk’s Ron Sloan

  By Robin Yuran During the month of March, the Norfolk Library is showcasing the artistic genius of Ron Sloan, who has been attacking the canvas with primary colors that are representative of his agonized view of the human condition since 1965. “I can feel the screams of everybody that have been hurt in this […]