• Early Morning Fire Guts Norfolk Barn

    Forty firefighters respond from five towns By Avice Meehan Adair Mali often sleeps with earplugs but dispensed with them on the night of Aug. 18, tired after a night at Tanglewood with her husband, Antonio Guindon, and another couple. Thank goodness she did. At about 4:20 a.m. Mali awoke to a “loud crackling noise” and […]

  • Litchfield County Choral Union Closes 2026 Season

    Celebrating America’s 250th birthday By Jude Mead The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) brought its 2026 summer season to a stirring close on Sunday, Aug. 2, with “From Roots to Promise: Singing America at 250,” an ambitious program that celebrated the country’s musical traditions while looking toward its future. The concert featured the LCCU anthem […]

  • Haystack Book Festival Returns to Norfolk

    Nationally recognized authors offer conversation and insights By Ann DeCerbo Book lovers, curious minds and anyone who enjoys a lively conversation about ideas have plenty to look forward to next month when the Haystack Book Festival returns to Norfolk Oct. 2–4 with events at Infinity Hall, the Norfolk Library and Great Mountain Forest. A program […]

  • Fire and Circus Arts on the Green

    By Jude Mead Matica Circus, a professional performing group based in Harwinton, Conn., brought an unforgettable combination of fire, acrobatics and circus arts to the Norfolk Village Green for the grand finale of the season of the Friday Nights on the Green summer concert series. The high-energy performance captivated the crowd with dramatic fire spinning, […]

  • Botelle Ushers in a New Year

    The first day of school dawned cool and cloudy, but no one seemed to notice. Students arrived at Botelle Elementary School on Aug. 26 via bus, car and firetruck (complete with siren). Some students, like Daphne Rutolo who walked her older sister to the bus, will have to wait for the start of the pre-Kindergarten […]

  • A New Year, New Pathways

    Northwestern Regional 7 expands opportunities for students By Virginia Coleman-Prisco As students and staff return to Northwestern Regional School District No. 7 (NWR7) middle and high schools for the 2026-27 school year, district leaders say the focus will be on strengthening student opportunities, preparing young people for an evolving workforce and building an even stronger […]

  • When Is a Check Really in the Mail?

    By Joseph Kelly The United States Postal Service (USPS), longtime target of many complaints and butt of numerous jokes, may seem an unlikely source of metaphysical speculation. But this year the USPS added a new wrinkle to an age-old question: When can it truly and truthfully be said that “a check is in the mail?” […]

  • Steady as She Goes

    Crews working on Norfolk’s new firehouse hoisted the “final” truss in place on Saturday, Aug. 29, as members of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department, town officials and representatives of Newfield Construction watched from the sidelines. The truss, signed by key players in the major project, marks a symbolic milestone toward completion of the building. NVFD […]

  • Caring for Forests: Ethan Tapper’s Message of Stewardship

    By Jude Mead Ethan Tapper recently spoke at the Church of Christ Congregational on the green about his work as a forester, author and advocate for the natural world. The evening centered on his 2024 book, “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World,” which explores how forests function and […]

  • IT’ S ONLY NATURAL: Putting the Brakes on Bittersweet: a September Strategy

    by Susannah Wood Over the last couple of years, Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) has increasingly taken hold on Norfolk’s roadsides. Anyone who has driven back and forth to New York City over the years has seen how, unchecked, the vines can envelope trees, girdle and kill them, and leave behind a wrecked woodland. A member […]

  • Woodman Spare that Tree—Or Don’t

    The somewhat lopsided Japanese Zelkova tree that once stood near the entrance to Nor-folk’s Post Office on Station Place is no more. Likely planted some 30 years ago during Ar-thur Rosenblatt’s tenure as first selectman, the hardy tree fell victim to progress and the need to replace the adjacent sidewalk. The planned removal of the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    In the early 20th century, the Mountain Road bridge over Norfolk Brook had a rustic-style guard rail bordering the road and sidewalk. Characterized by the use of twigs, branches, and bark, the rustic style had been used in formal English gardens in the 1700’s and in this country was very popular in the second half […]

Articles

New Residence Awaits Arriving Summer Artists

Eldridge Barn renovation nearly complete Text By Andra Moss  Photo By Peter Chaffetz The Yale Norfolk School of Art is set to receive an impressive present for its 75th birthday in May. When the 26 students and seven faculty arrive in Norfolk on May 20, they will find a completely new residence building on the Ellen […]

Spring Snowstorm Surprise

By Russell Russ The first two weeks of March were fairly normal, with normal temperatures and even several days with snowfall. Due to this winter’s prevailing weather patterns, southern New England had not seen any big nor’easter-type storms. That all changed on March 13.  The storm began slowly with light snow showers during the day […]

Gas Spill Repercussions Month Five Months On

Disruptions, disputes and microbes By Joe Kelly Five months after a tanker truck crashed on Route 44, Norfolk continues to grapple with the impact of the 8,200-gallon spill that drenched the center of town. The disruption and dislocation that began in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2022, also continue for residents closest to […]

Lost Ruby Farm Has Found a Worthy Successor for Its Cheese-Making Business

Supporting Local Farms Text By Avice MeehanFeatured Image by Ashley Skatoff It’s a cold, rainy March afternoon just before Antonio Guindon’s 60th birthday and he’s having fun: Irish music coming from a speaker, a stove burning bright, and maple sap boiling in a small evaporator.  “Every spring, sap fever hits me, and the beauty of […]

Wayne Jenkins Recalls Almost 60 Years of Syrup Making

A Labor of Love Text By Jude MeadPhoto by Scott Whalen The maple syrup season is once again wrapping up for the year. For most producers, the season started off strong,  one of the earliest ever noted in the area according to ACSERnet, an international network of scientists studying the maple tree’s ecology. Maple syrup […]

Norfolk Library Opens New Teen Alcove in the Great Hall

Dedicated space for teens to study and hang out Text By Kelly Kandra Hughes  Photo Courtesy of the Norfolk Library  After two years of planning, design and construction, the Norfolk Library’s new place for teens has opened. Community discussions on teen mental health had suggested that teens didn’t have any place of their own in Norfolk. […]

Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center Reopens for 2023 Season

Text By Patricia PlattPhoto Courtesy of the CT-Asia Cultural Center Norfolk residents and visitors will want to add the Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center to their list of local places to visit this spring and summer. On April 1, the center, at 207A Westside Road, reopens for a new season. The museum will be open to the […]

Local Inn Reopens as Luxury Bed and Breakfast

Welcome to the Wildwood1880 By Andra Moss It was, virtually, love at first sight. From her kitchen table in Northern California last July, Sarah Dreyer followed intently as her realtor used a mobile phone camera to walk her room by room through the Mountain View Green Retreat in Norfolk. Dreyer definitely liked what she saw. […]

Children’s Foundation Works to Enrich Lives of Local Students 

By Avice Meehan Thirty-five years after its founding, the Norfolk Connecticut Children’s Foundation is now led by Babs Perkins, whose father, Roderick J. Perkins, helped create the foundation following the closure of the Laurel School. The foundation’s mission is straightforward: to enrich the lives of Norfolk’s children by supporting cultural and educational experiences, camps and […]

Yarn for Good (and Food)

By Janet G. Mead When the Norfolk Knitters were asked to participate in WIN weekend at the end of February, several came up with a brilliant idea: let’s sell all that yarn that’s been sitting in a closet, reserved for projects that never inched beyond the concept stage, and donate the funds to the Norfolk […]

Canaan Couple Is Passionate About Coffee

Colombian growers of Ilse Coffee’s beans are carefully chosen By Colleen Gundlach    When a person has a cup of coffee that actually “tastes like something,” they will never go back to drinking ordinary coffee again—the belief on which Rebecca Grossman and Lucas Smith have built their gourmet coffee-roasting business, Ilse Coffee. The couple, who have […]

Crowd Turns Out to Debate Merits of Norfolk Dog Park

Location and parking issues discussed at P&Z Meeting By Susan MacEachron The proposal to create a private dog park, open to all dog owners, on Westside Road south of Mountain Road generated a large turnout at the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing on Feb. 14. The Friends of the Norfolk Community Dog Park […]