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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Norfolk gathers to dedicate a memorial to those who died By Virginia Coleman-Prisco Just as communities banded together on September 11, 2001, our local community came together this year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the events. The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) hosted a dedication of a 9/11 memorial on the morning of September […]
Bella Erder fights to return to Norfolk Text by Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto by Mark Erder Norfolk residents since 1997, Bella and Mark Erder have always delighted in the people and community that make our small town of 1,600 such a sought-after place to live. As they both work in Hong Kong at various times throughout […]
Elizabeth Knowles creates from experience and observation Text by Michael CobbPhoto courtesy of Elizabeth Knowles Multimedia artist Elizabeth Knowles is intrigued by the beauty found in natural forms. Her work invites viewers to consider the connections between the macro and micro. For Knowles, the patterns of the Milky Way are just as interesting as the […]
What does it take for them to always be there? by Jude Mead Nineteen years ago, Jon Riedeman moved to Norfolk and was attending a local venue when his friend collapsed to the floor. He had had a cardiac arrest. A bystander who was a member of the ambulance began CPR immediately. Then 911 was called and within […]
Months-long restoration nearing completion by Andra Moss Since 1889, the Joseph Battell Memorial Fountain has greeted travelers as they approached the Norfolk village green from the south on Litchfield Road. The fountain’s unveiling on Sept. 27 of that year was heralded by the horns of a 24-piece military band (twice, in fact, once at 3 […]
Text by Ruth MelvillePhoto by Jessica Ray Harrison In Diego Ongaro’s new movie, “Down With the King,” a famous rapper, played by real-life rapper Freddie Gibbs, comes to live in the rural Berkshire countryside while he works on his new album. Dissatisfied with the pressures of his professional life, he becomes friends with a neighboring […]
Text by Steve MelvillePhoto by Kate Campion This summer Christopher Little packed up his entire photographic archive and shipped it to the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas in Austin. There it will form part of the Briscoe’s expansive holdings in photojournalism from the mid-19th century on, joining the work of […]
Text By Kelly Kandra HughesPhotos Courtesy of the Library of Congress Betsy Garside, a resident of New Mexico with deep family roots in Norfolk, attended many of the Norfolk Library online events throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. She found them “a way to go somewhere fun,” whether it was an authors talk, a Friday afternoon chat […]
Text By Andra MossPhoto by Babs Perkins The old red barn on Colebrook Road was an ideal setting for the reading by Sarah Alcott Anderson from her first published book of poetry, “We Hold On To What We Can” (Loom Press). On an early August afternoon, the large crowd of invited guests, distributed in folding […]
by Jude Mead Have your Covid-19 proof of vaccination ready because you won’t want to miss the lineup of authors at this year’s Haystack Book Festival in Norfolk. The festival was canceled last year because of the pandemic. This year it will follow the state and CDC guidelines and will be live in-person, with proof […]
By David Beers Andrew Thomson distinctly remembers a pivotal moment in his life: it was the 90s and he was singing in the Chorus Angelicus children’s choir at the Norfolk Music Shed. Also onstage were professional adult instrumentalists accompanying the choir. Thomson was awed by their musicality and got his first glimpse of his future […]
By Jude Mead When Hilary VanWright sees an opportunity that will benefit her community, she goes after it. That is exactly what happened when she learned about a grant from the Artist Fellowship Program. Fellowship awards provide recognition and funding support for Connecticut artists and are highly competitive. VanWright, however, was confident in her idea […]