• 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

Norfolk Salutes Its Volunteers: Spotlight on the Norfolk Community Association

Barry Webber & Doreen Kelly Barry Webber Giving back and supporting one’s community has always been a strong calling for me. I’d lived in Norfolk for only two weeks when Sue Dooley hooked me in to help with the Mandy Patinkin concert to benefit Prime Time House—an organization I spent more than 10 years working […]

Up Up and Away

Leaf-Peeping From the Sky By Jude Mead One way to see the fall foliage is hot air ballooning, and Spirit Ballooning LLC is ready to guide you above the colorful display of leaves in Norfolk. The locally owned and operated hot air balloon adventure company (spiritballooning.com) is based in North Canaan. Darrel Long, owner and […]

This Old Norfolk House

The Grant Homestead By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo When we were looking at houses in Norfolk about 20 years ago, there were three homes on the market for under one million dollars: two charming but overpriced Victorians in the center of town and a 244-year-old colonial on the Winchester Center town line that looked like it […]

Out and About: New Yoga Studio in Winsted Welcomes All Levels of Experience

By David Beers It is Friday evening and I am unfolding my tense body on the floor of a storefront in downtown Winsted, which is not the typical thing to be doing on Main Street. At the corner of Elm and Main, two doors down from Rooted Market, is Earthbound Yogi, a new yoga studio […]

Prime Time House Holds Fundraiser In Norfolk

Helping Adults with Mental Illness By Michael Cobb  A lively crowd gathered at Michael Selleck’s house on Greenwoods Road East on Sept. 16 to raise money for Prime Time House, a mental health organization based in Torrington that helps adults with mental illness find employment, education, housing and support. Guests were greeted by volunteers from […]

Sentencing Scheduled In Norfolk Assault Case

By Avice Meehan The young Winchester resident accused of sexually assaulting a Norfolk woman in 2022 accepted a plea agreement and could be formally sentenced as early as Oct. 13 in Litchfield County Court in Torrington. Jason Tyrone Heath, 21, entered a guilty plea on Aug. 4 to two felony charges, attempted sexual assault and […]

Owl Sculpture to Be Unveiled on Robertson Plaza

First installation in a planned sculpture trail By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Community Association (NCA) will unveil Jon Riedeman’s sculpture, the Owl of Good Fortune, at Robertson Plaza on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 2 p.m. The public is invited to the event, which will include an introduction by the NCA, comments by Jon Riedeman, and […]

View From The Green

Do We Need A Land Ethic? By Kathy Robb The people of Norfolk have long known the importance of good land stewardship, as evidenced by the environmental work of Great Mountain Forest, Aton Forest, the Conservation Commission, the Norfolk Land Trust and many other organizations in town. The demands of global human justice—and humanity’s health—require […]

The Old Newgate Coon Club

A Long History of Preserving Tradition, Community and Nature By Jude Mead Sitting atop a hill on Colebrook Road (Route 182) in Norfolk, the Old Newgate Coon Club stands as a testament to the preservation of tradition, community, and nature and is among one of the oldest sporting clubs in Connecticut. It was first established […]

Setting History in Stone

Norfolk Sculptor Participates in Project Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg By Andra Moss In late May, stone carver Adam Paul Heller of Norfolk received an unexpected phone call from the chief architect responsible for the New York State Capitol building. Would he be interested in joining a project underway at the capitol? It was extremely short […]

Rains Delay Spill Cleanup as More Gas Is Found

Cleanup shifts to Maple Avenue Words and photo by Joseph Kelly This summer’s rainy weather, including the severe storms in July that wiped out several bridges in town, has also delayed the ongoing cleanup of last year’s gas spill. As a result, through traffic on Maple Avenue is likely to remain disrupted well into September. […]

Norfolk Salutes Its Volunteers Spotlight on the Library

Galene Kessin My involvement with the Norfolk Library was almost accidental.  I went into the library one day because Comcast had interrupted our phone and internet service and I urgently needed to call my husband Rich, who was in New York.  While I was seated in a comfortable chair in what I now know is […]