• 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 […]

  • A Look Into Norfolk’s Past

    Exhibit Explores Pupin’s Haven of Happiness on Westside Road By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Historical Museum graces Norfolk’s village green with the reserve and understated elegance of a New Englander well worth getting to know. Visitors who step inside will find exhibits that tell the stories of the town’s past, often with intriguing ties to […]

  • Norfolk Past and Present

    The Summer Chapel Eases Gracefully Into Its 130 Years By Elizabeth Bailey Ayreslea Rowland Denny began attending services at The Church of the Transfiguration in Norfolk in 1939 on the eve of World War II. A New Yorker, she was a student at the Chapin School in New York City, but her family had been […]

  • Church Steeple Shines Once Again

    Local dignitaries and friends of Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational gathered on Saturday, May 25, to formally celebrate the completion of the steeple restoration project. The Rev. Erick Olsen thanked the community for supporting the years-long effort and welcomed everyone to enjoy a splendid cake featuring an image of the steeple.

  • Making the Native… Personal

    Cheryl Heller Builds a Wild Garden in Norfolk By Joe Kelly Gardens are best when they’re personal, argued the late Fred McGourty, who remains Norfolk’s best- known plantsmen. McGourty’s 1989 book, “The Perennial Gardener,” recounts the gardens he and his wife, Mary Ann, created at Hillside, their home near Dennis Hill State Park. Were he […]

  • This Old Norfolk House

    Stevens House By Joe KellyWhen our Puritan forebears arrived on these shores in the early 1600s, they were no doubt surprised todiscover how the traditional thatched roof cottages they knew from back home were no match for thewind and cold of a typical New England winter. But it would have likely surprised them even more […]

  • Can wildlife safely cross Norfolk’s Roads?

    By Shelley Harms Where are animals crossing Norfolk’s roads? Are they making it across? Is it possible to make theircrossings safer? Julia Rogers, Senior Land Protection Manager at the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), helped agroup of interested Norfolk residents explore these questions at a training session sponsored by theNorfolk Land Trust on March 22 at […]

  • Great Mountain Forest’s New Executive Director Returns to His Connecticut Roots

    By David Beers Mike Zarfos started his new position as executive director of Great Mountain Forest (GMF) at the end ofFebruary. It has been a lively time for Zarfos and his family; in addition to moving from Washington,D.C., to Connecticut, they are expecting a baby in April. Zarfos grew up in Deep River, Conn., where […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    In the late 19th century, the arrival of every train at the depot on Station Place was widely anticipated.There were freight trains, milk trains and passenger trains unloading throngs of summer visitors. Theattractive station pictured here was built in 1898, replacing an earlier modest structure. Constructed ofnative granite, it was designed by Hill & Turner, […]

Articles

Recap of November 2021 Elections

By Andra MossPhoto by Kelly Kandra Hughes The results of Norfolk’s 2021 municipal elections were officially released by Town Clerk Linda Perkins on Thursday, Nov. 4. Although local turnout for the election was not high, with 469 votes cast out of an electorate of 1,162, Norfolk’s voting rate of 44 percent still topped many Connecticut […]

Norfolk NET Wants to Give You $100 to Enrich the Town

New grant program will support projects that grow community by Kelly Kandra Hughes In Jan. 2020, Reverend Erick Olsen of the Church of Christ Congregational pitched an idea at a Norfolk NET (Networking Everyone Together) meeting:  a community contest with the goals of building new relationships, invigorating the town and, hopefully, encouraging more people to […]

Tenuta Market: Telling the Stories of Italian Foods

By Patricia Platt Two years ago, Ian Edwards studied Italian cooking at the renowned Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in rural Sicily. His love of Italian food led Edwards and his friend Travis Powell on meandering trips across Italy to explore the farms and estates where fine Italian ingredients are produced. Today, Edwards and Powell […]

Norfolk Library Awarded $15,000 in ARPA Funds

Buying hotspots, laptops, and iPads for patron use By Kelly Kandra Hughes Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, the Norfolk Library is now the recipient of over $15,000 in grant money. ARPA is the $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package designed to facilitate the United States’ recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Libraries […]

Infinity Hall Is Building Back With a New Menu and Improved Sound

By Michael Cobb After more than a year of being shut down, Infinity Hall reopened its doors to the public last summer. But managing lost revenue and surviving with the help of governmental assistance were only part of the equation. Infinity Hall had plenty of behind-the-scenes work to do in preparation for reopening, including maintenance […]

Eileen Fielding of the Sharon Audubon Society: A Lifetime of Watching Birds

It’s Only Natural Text By Jude MeadPhoto by Michael Moschen If anyone knows about birds, it is Eileen Fielding. She started volunteering at an Audubon sanctuary in Massachusetts when she was 13. Today, with a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Connecticut, she’s the center director for the Sharon Audubon Center.  […]

Winsted’s Railway Café Serves Up Mouthwatering Breakfast and Lunch Dishes

By Colleen Gundlach The Covid pandemic inflicted devastation on many business owners, particularly those of small businesses. From the lockdown last year to unemployment issues this year, these companies have been hard hit. One local entrepreneur is an exception, though. Winsted resident Carrie Stetson took the Covid lemons and turned them into lemonade. Stetson had […]

The Library’s Kelly Kandra Hughes is Keeping Norfolk Engaged

Community in Action Text by Janet Gokay MeaPhoto by Heath Hughes Mention Kelly Kandra Hughes, the Norfolk Library’s community engagement coordinator, to most of the library’s patrons and the first response usually is, “Oh, she’s done so much for this town!” And indeed, both she and her husband, Heath, who works as the office manager […]

How a Norfolk Man Came to be Chased by Bears in the Ozarks

A Look Into Norfolk’s Past Text by Andra MossPhoto Courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society Grand adventures are often thought to be reserved for the young. One early Norfolk resident, however, embarked at the somewhat ripe age of 38 on an epic journey into the wilds of the Missouri Territory. His traveling companion became a […]

Cultural Enrichment Programs Return to Botelle as COVID Restrictions Loosen

Getting Back to Normal By Ann DeCerbo On Oct. 13, Botelle students gathered on the gym bleachers for “The Wacky Science Show” with scientist Mike Bent. As promised, the show delivered the “magic of theatre, attention-grabbing comedy, and scientific truths” that thoroughly engaged and entertained the audience of children and their teachers. The interactive science […]

Town Landfill Solar Farm on Track for Construction

By Dave Beers In 1995, the town landfill was full, and a request to the state for a landfill expansion was denied owing to concerns over groundwater contamination. The following year, the transfer station as we know it today was built. Many still endearingly still refer to it as ‘The Dump.” Twenty-five years later, the […]

No Longer a Bell, Norfolk’s Sirens Have a Unique History

Raising the Alarm by Colleen Gundlach Since 1907, the people of Norfolk have always had some manner of audible alarm to alert their volunteer firefighters to an emergency. In the beginning, it was a large bell, and someone needed to manually pull a rope to sound the alarm. Even though many changes have occurred over […]