• 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

Revamped Town Website Launched

By Susan MacEachron As of July 1, the town website has been redesigned and is under town management for the first time. Before now, the website had been managed by various members of the community for the benefit of the town. Now the Website Committee is a town committee, and notices of monthly meetings will […]

Keeping Vital Supplies Flowing to Ukraine’s Front Lines

Two men with local ties send equipment where it’s needed most Text By Andra MossPhoto Courtesy of Evan Platt On May 1, barely two months after the start of Russian invasion of Ukraine, Evan Platt boarded a plane in Salt Lake City, Utah, bound for Warsaw. His friend and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) […]

Babs Perkins Uses Intentional Movement to Produce Ethereal Photograpys

Text by Jude MeadPhoto Courtesy of Babs Perkins Photography has the power to inspire and the ability to invoke an emotional response in people. It is a visual tool that allows photographers to show how they see the world. For professional photographer and writer Barbara “Babs” Perkins, photography is a passion. She uses it to […]

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to Take Place During WIN Weekend

by Jeremy Withnell The long-awaited end to the second phase of the City Meadow project is nearly at hand.  According to Molly Ackerly, chair of the City Meadow committee, the finishing touches are being put in place and a ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled to coincide with Weekend in Norfolk on August 7 at 1 […]

Norfolk Church Sends Work Camp Group To Upgrade Homes and Uplift Hearts

Photo by Sarah Foster After a two-year break, Church of Christ Congregational resumed its tradition of Work Camp trips. This year, 16 volunteers loaded into cars and headed back to Camden, N.Y. to resume their partnership with Cluster 13 Ministries.   Under the leadership of Pastor Erick Olsen and his wife Tina, seven adults and nine […]

Former Norfolk Resident Publishes Her First Children’s Book

Finding Inspiration in the Words of a Child Text By Colleen GundlachPhoto by Laura Roehl A few years ago, there was a grandmother whose little grandson ran to her and said, “Grammy, Grammy, there’s a fish in the tree,” to which she replied, “A fish in a tree? How could that be?” That simple, spontaneous […]

Local Hero Recounts Grueling Guadalcanal Campaign

Text By Patricia PlattPhoto Courtesy of the Marolda Family The Battle of Guadalcanal, a six-month campaign for control of a strategically important Pacific island airfield, marked a critical turning point in World War II for the Allies. If the Japanese controlled the island, they could cut off the sea route between Australia and America. From […]

Preparing in Norfolk to Fight Wildfires Across North America

Interstate fire crew trains locally at Yale Camp By David Beers During the first week of June, 26 students and 10 instructors were cut off from the world at Yale Camp at Great Mountain Forest for four days of wildland fire training. The instructors were seasoned wildland fire fighting veterans and the students were new […]

The Joshua Whitney House, c. 1755

This Old Norfolk House By Joseph Kelly Whitney is a storied family name in America. Think Eli Whitney and his cotton gin or the Connecticut company Pratt & Whitney. In worlds as diverse as art, aviation, film, finance, journalism, linguistics, politics and women’s rights, Whitneys have played prominent roles including, as it turns out, right […]

Matt Riiska Talks Trash

Text By Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto By Heath Hughes Historically, Connecticut has done well with its garbage. As a state, it buries the least amount of trash in landfills. “But now it’s going to get ugly quick,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska to a group attending his talk about trash at the Norfolk Hub on June […]

Local Landowners Rally to Protect Hemlocks

It’s Only Natural Text By Susannah WoodPhoto by Wiley Wood On a cool afternoon at the beginning of June, a dozen or so volunteers gathered around a short woman sporting hiking gear, several fanny packs and a long stave with a hook on the end. Carole Cheah of the Connecticut State Agricultural Experiment Station was […]

Beagles and Terriers and Hounds, Oh My!

Text By Janet Gokay MeadTop Photo By Kelly Kandra Hughes The evening of the second annual Norfolk Library Pet Parade on June 17 began as it did last year: with perfect early summer weather, bright and a bit breezy. Though 18 dogs had been preregistered for the event—which Library Director Ann Havemeyer has declared a […]