• Proposed Manor House Expansion Draws Large Crowd

    Many differing views on effect of change in town center By Susan MacEachron Norfolk residents filled the Botelle School Hall of Flags on a very cold evening on Tuesday, Jan. 14, to attend the Planning & Zoning (P&Z) public hearing regarding a modification to the special permit granted in 1996 to the property known as […]

  • From All Angels

    Throughout the month of February, Garet&Co will be returning to Norfolk to present their third annual performance in the Battell Chapel, where each piece will be set in the round.  In this presentation, titled “From All Angles”, the audience will witness the translation of three of the works presented at their fall show.   “Can’t Keep […]

  • Norfolk Then

    Pictured here is the house built in 1898 by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Spofford as their summer home. The son of Ainsworth Spofford, Librarian of Congress, Charles Spofford was an electrical engineer, who would be hired in 1902 to manage London’s underground railway system, converting it from steam to electricity. The Spoffords engaged the architect […]

  • 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 […]

Articles

Norfolk CTDOT Crew Manages 50 Miles of Roadways

Local team handles the state’s toughest weather By David Beers The state highways of Connecticut are the arteries of its road network. Most drivers use them daily and generally take them for granted. It is not until one is stuck behind a snowplow or delayed by a construction lane drop that any thought goes to […]

NVFD Welcomes Gleaming New (Plastic!) Tanker

By Brian Hutchins In late December 2022, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) took delivery of the largest, and some would say the most important, truck in their fleet. Some may have already caught a glimpse of the 25-ton piece of fire apparatus on town roads as the firefighters familiarize themselves with the characteristics of […]

Ralph Nader Champions Revival of Winsted Newspaper

The Winsted Citizen to publish first issue Feb. 3 Text By Colleen GundlachPhoto Courtesy of American Tort Law Museum More than 100 people turned out on the evening of Jan. 24 to hear plans for Winsted’s new monthly print newspaper, The Winsted Citizen.  At a reception held at the American Museum of Tort Law on […]

Prepare Now to Combat the Next Spongy Moth Season

Defending Norfolk’s Trees By Susannah Wood Last year an outbreak of spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars arrived in the Northwest Corner, defoliating the trees and turning entire hillsides back to early spring again. Norfolk forests suffered significant damage from these exotic pests, formerly known as gypsy moths. Towns to the west were even harder hit. […]

Noi Salon Turns Heads on Station Place

Around Town By Andra Moss People walking along Norfolk’s Station Place are doing a particular two-step these days when they pass the doorway east of the Hub—two steps past, then two steps back, a peer in the window, then a hand on the doorknob. They have discovered Noi Salon, the new full-service hair salon opened […]

A Norfolk Frog Makes Successful Hop to Sheffield

Out and About By Patricia Platt Longtime Norfolk natives who drive through Sheffield, Mass., might recognize a stylishly dressed frog on a sign outside a new business. Justin Vagliano has named his recently opened farm-to-table restaurant The Frog after a men’s haberdashery in Norfolk once owned by his father. Inside, you can see the original […]

Eversource Price Hike LEads Many to Seek Alternate Suppliers

By Avice Meehan Asking someone what they pay per kilowatt hour of electricity is more likely to generate a confused stare than spark a lively conversation. At least that was true until November, when local energy provider Eversource announced it would seek a 50 percent hike in the cost of supplying electricity to residential and […]

Stone Walls – Built to Last the Test of Times

It’s Only Natural By Jude Mead If stonewalls could talk, they would have centuries of stories to tell and would reveal a wealth of history. According to Susan Allport, author of “Sermons in Stone,” stonewalls date back to the agricultural era of the late 1700s. “Stonewalls have a checkered past in terms of how they […]

Dawn Whalen Retiring as Executive Director of Norfolk Foundation

Text by Leila JavitchPhoto Courtesy of Dawn Whalen Dawn Whalen became the first executive director of the Norfolk Foundation (NF) in November 2016, arriving after three years as executive director of Habitat for Humanity for Northwest Connecticut. Mark Burke, a Norfolk resident and former member of the Habitat board, urged her to apply to head […]

Two First-Time Playwrights Explore Lives on Stage

Text by Andra MossPhotos by Adam Heller Two one-act plays, written by Norfolk-based playwrights Sara Heller and Marinell Crippen, will premiere on Feb. 25 at the Norfolk Library. Both women are actors who have trained and worked in New York City, and Crippen is house manager at the Sharon Playhouse. Although neither had ever seriously […]

Norfolk Swimmer Olivia Olsen Changes Lane

High school senior recruited to row for Syracuse University Text by Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto Courtesy of Syracuse University Norfolk’s Olivia Olsen has spent her whole life swimming. Now a high school senior she had planned to swim competitively in college, and the SwimCloud coaching platform has her ranked 82nd in Connecticut in terms of recruitment. […]

Tanker Crash Emergency Ends, But Recovery Stretches On

Cleanup likely to take at least a year Text By Ruth MelvillePhoto Courtesy of Verdantas Over 75 people gathered in Botelle School’s Hall of Flags on Nov. 15 to attend an informational meeting about the current state of cleanup after the gasoline tanker crash on Route 44.   Seated behind the long table across the front […]